Nature conservation is underresourced, requiring managers to prioritize where, when, and how to spend limited funds. Prioritization methods identify the subset of actions that provide the most benefit to an actor's objective. However, spending decisions by conservation actors are often misaligned with their objectives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNavua sedge ( (Ridley) Mattf. & Kukenth) is an invasive perennial sedge, native to tropical Africa, which is threatening many natural ecosystems and agroecosystems, especially in northern Queensland, Australia. Crop and pasture production have been impacted by Navua sedge and it is also directly causing reductions in dairy and beef production in affected regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFManaging and monitoring invasive alien species (IAS) is costly, and because resources are limited, prioritization decisions are required for planning and management. We present findings on plant pest prioritization for 63 established invader species of natural and grazing ecosystems of Queensland, Australia. We used an expert elicitation approach to assess risk (species occurrence, spread, and impact) and feasibility of control for each IAS.
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Premise Of The Study: Plant invasiveness can be promoted by higher values of adaptive traits (e.g., photosynthetic capacity, biomass accumulation), greater plasticity and coordination of these traits, and by higher and positive relative influence of these functionalities on fitness, such as increasing reproductive output.
Background And Aims: Success of invasive plant species is thought to be linked with their higher leaf carbon fixation strategy, enabling them to capture and utilize resources better than native species, and thus pre-empt and maintain space. However, these traits are not well-defined for invasive woody vines.
Methods: In a glass house setting, experiments were conducted to examine how leaf carbon gain strategies differ between non-indigenous invasive and native woody vines of south-eastern Australia, by investigating their biomass gain, leaf structural, nutrient and physiological traits under changing light and moisture regimes.
Background And Aims: This study examined level of causal relationships amongst functional traits in leaves and conjoint pitcher cups of the carnivorous Nepenthes species.
Methods: Physico-chemical properties, especially lignin content, construction costs, and longevity of the assimilatory organs (leaf and pitcher) of a guild of lowland Nepenthes species inhabiting heath and/or peat swamp forests of Brunei, northern Borneo were determined.
Key Results: Longevity of these assimilatory organs was linked significantly to construction cost, lignin content and structural trait of tissue density, but these effects are non-additive.
In rainforests, trunk size, strength, crown position, and geometry of a tree affect light interception and the likelihood of mechanical failure. Allometric relationships of tree diameter, wood density, and crown architecture vs. height are described for a diverse range of rainforest trees in Brunei, northern Borneo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Species of the Nepenthaceae family are under-represented in studies of leaf traits and the consequent view of mineral nutrition and limitation in carnivorous plants. This study is aimed to complement existing data on leaf traits of carnivorous plants.
Methods: Physico-chemical properties, including construction costs (CC), of the assimilatory organs (leaf and pitcher) of a guild of lowland Nepenthes species inhabiting heath and/or peat swamp forests of Brunei, Northern Borneo were determined.