Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island
Invasive alien species are among the most significant conservation threats for Antarctica, and the South Orkney Islands are highly exposed to this threat because of their location and intensity of human activity. The alien flowering plant species Poa annua is known to occur at several locations in t...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:523496 2023-05-15T13:41:43+02:00 Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island Malfasi, Francesco Convey, Peter Zaccara, Serena Cannone, Nicoletta 2020-01 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/523496/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7 unknown Springer Malfasi, Francesco; Convey, Peter orcid:0000-0001-8497-9903 Zaccara, Serena; Cannone, Nicoletta. 2020 Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island. Biodiversity and Conservation, 29 (1). 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7 2023-02-04T19:48:25Z Invasive alien species are among the most significant conservation threats for Antarctica, and the South Orkney Islands are highly exposed to this threat because of their location and intensity of human activity. The alien flowering plant species Poa annua is known to occur at several locations in the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. Here we report the first occurrence record of P. annua observed in the natural environment on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. This archipelago is distant from previous records of the species in Antarctica (> 1500 km), and at local scale also distant (c. 2 km) from the main concentration of human activity close to the research station on the island. During the austral summer 2017/2018 we recorded one clump of P. annua on the island, and eradicated all individuals as well as removing the associated soil. No reproductive structures were apparent on the plants, and the soil did not contain a seed bank. Molecular analyses using available sequence data in GenBank confirmed the taxonomic species identification and, at a global scale identified six different haplotypes, confirming that the Signy Island material belongs to a distinct lineage within the species. Given Signy’s northern and relatively mild location in the maritime Antarctic, likely closer to the natural climatic and environmental niche of P. annua, the island may be at high risk of invasion, meaning that monitoring and biosecurity efforts need to be enhanced and extended well beyond the immediate vicinity of the research station area. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Signy Island South Orkney Islands South Shetland Islands Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral South Shetland Islands South Orkney Islands ENVELOPE(-45.500,-45.500,-60.583,-60.583) Signy Island ENVELOPE(-45.595,-45.595,-60.708,-60.708) Biodiversity and Conservation 29 1 173 186 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
description |
Invasive alien species are among the most significant conservation threats for Antarctica, and the South Orkney Islands are highly exposed to this threat because of their location and intensity of human activity. The alien flowering plant species Poa annua is known to occur at several locations in the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. Here we report the first occurrence record of P. annua observed in the natural environment on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. This archipelago is distant from previous records of the species in Antarctica (> 1500 km), and at local scale also distant (c. 2 km) from the main concentration of human activity close to the research station on the island. During the austral summer 2017/2018 we recorded one clump of P. annua on the island, and eradicated all individuals as well as removing the associated soil. No reproductive structures were apparent on the plants, and the soil did not contain a seed bank. Molecular analyses using available sequence data in GenBank confirmed the taxonomic species identification and, at a global scale identified six different haplotypes, confirming that the Signy Island material belongs to a distinct lineage within the species. Given Signy’s northern and relatively mild location in the maritime Antarctic, likely closer to the natural climatic and environmental niche of P. annua, the island may be at high risk of invasion, meaning that monitoring and biosecurity efforts need to be enhanced and extended well beyond the immediate vicinity of the research station area. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Malfasi, Francesco Convey, Peter Zaccara, Serena Cannone, Nicoletta |
spellingShingle |
Malfasi, Francesco Convey, Peter Zaccara, Serena Cannone, Nicoletta Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island |
author_facet |
Malfasi, Francesco Convey, Peter Zaccara, Serena Cannone, Nicoletta |
author_sort |
Malfasi, Francesco |
title |
Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island |
title_short |
Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island |
title_full |
Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island |
title_fullStr |
Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island |
title_sort |
establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in antarctica: poa annua at signy island |
publisher |
Springer |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/523496/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-45.500,-45.500,-60.583,-60.583) ENVELOPE(-45.595,-45.595,-60.708,-60.708) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral South Shetland Islands South Orkney Islands Signy Island |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral South Shetland Islands South Orkney Islands Signy Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Signy Island South Orkney Islands South Shetland Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Signy Island South Orkney Islands South Shetland Islands |
op_relation |
Malfasi, Francesco; Convey, Peter orcid:0000-0001-8497-9903 Zaccara, Serena; Cannone, Nicoletta. 2020 Establishment and eradication of an alien plant species in Antarctica: Poa annua at Signy Island. Biodiversity and Conservation, 29 (1). 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01877-7 |
container_title |
Biodiversity and Conservation |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
173 |
op_container_end_page |
186 |
_version_ |
1766155037189341184 |