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Understanding the diverging opinions of academic experts, stakeholders and the public is important for effective conservation management. This is especially so when a consensus is needed for action to minimize future risks but the knowledge upon which to base this action is uncertain or missing. How to manage non-native, invasive species (NIS) is an interesting case in point: the issue has long been controversial among stakeholders, but publicly visible, major disagreement among experts is recent. To characterize the multitude of experts’ understanding and valuation of non-native, NIS we performed structured qualitative interviews with 26 academic experts, 13 of whom were invasion biologists and 13 landscape experts. Within both groups, thinking varied widely, not only about basic concepts (e.g., non-native, invasive) but also about their valuation of effects of NIS. The divergent opinions among experts, regarding both the overall severity of the problem in Europe and its importance for ecosystem services, contrasted strongly with the apparent consensus that emerges from scientific synthesis articles and policy documents. We postulate that the observed heterogeneity of expert judgments is related to three major factors: (1) diverging conceptual understandings, (2) lack of empirical information and high scientific uncertainties due to complexities and contingencies of invasion processes, and (3) missing deliberation of values. Based on theory from science studies, we interpret the notion of an NIS as a boundary object, i.e., concepts that have a similar but not identical meaning to different groups of experts and stakeholders. This interpretative flexibility of a concept can facilitate interaction across diverse groups but bears the risk of introducing misunderstandings. An alternative to seeking consensus on exact definitions and risk assessments would be for invasive species experts to acknowledge uncertainties and engage transparently with stakeholders and the public in deliberations about conflicting opinions, taking the role of honest brokers of policy alternatives rather than of issue advocates.
The current status of exotic freshwater vascular plants in Australia - a systematic description
(2018)
Freshwater systems are considered particularly vulnerable to human impact, through habitat modification, changes to water regimes and quality, invasion by exotic species and climate change. Using various records, we conducted a descriptive analysis of the naturalised freshwater plant species in Australia. There are 63 freshwater plant species belonging to 45 genera and 26 families naturalised in Australia with the dominant families being Cyperaceae, Poaceae and Plantaginaceae. More than 40% of these species are categorised as either invasive or declared weeds, the majority being perennial wetland marginal plants. They originated from all the inhabited continents with most of the species being native to Europe, South America and North America. The greatest number of species are currently found in New South Wales (90%), Queensland (68%) and Victoria (65%); the ornamental aquarium plant trade was identified as the main introduction pathway. Most species are clonal plants with flexible modes of reproduction and multiple dispersal vectors. We conclude that exotic plant species are now an important component of Australia’s freshwater systems and that ongoing monitoring of their status, distribution and impact should be a high priority in light of the increasing influence of anthropogenic factors including climate change.
The scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) are one of the most successful groups of plant-feeding arthropods. Most species of shade trees, fruit trees and ornamental shrubs are subject to scale insect attacks. Based on the review of the literature and survey results, the host plant list of the scale insects in South Korea was developed and updated. Herein, an updated list of 253 species of host plants in 71 families associated with scale insects is provided and 162 species in 15 scale insect families are listed.