MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17 19 MANAGING INVASIVE PLANTS IN AUSTRALIA: A DECADE OF ACHIEVEMENT McFadyen R Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management, Indooroopilly, Brisbane Qld The first Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Weeds started in 1995 and the National Weeds Strategy was launched in 1997. The first national eradication campaign against an invasive plant started in 1994, and a ‘Permitted List’ system was adopted in 1998 for entry of new plant species into Australia, using a Weed Risk Assessment System. These were major advances in the management of invasive plants in Australia, and this paper discusses the critical policy issues and turning points along the way. It also considers where policy has failed and the critical challenges for the future. 20 21 CURRENT AND POTENTIAL GEOPHYTE WEEDS OF SOUTH-WESTERN AUSTRALIA Keighery GJ Department of Environment and Conservation, Science Division, Wanneroo, WA [email protected] South Western Australia is an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot for flowering plants, containing over 6,000 species of which 75% are endemic. Altered land use since European settlement has lead to 1234 naturalised plants becoming established. These now pose a major threat to this biodiversity. Unlike SE Australia shrubs are a minor component of this weed flora, major weeds are grasses, annuals (Peas, Daisies and Brassicaceae) or geophytes. The 107 geophytic weeds present in Western Australia come from 18 families of plants, both Monocots and Dicots, although nearly half are cormous Iridaceae from southern Africa. Unlike many other areas of similar climates, Southern Western Australia is depauperate in geophytes, with about 200 species in our flora of c. 6,000 (< 4%), compared to southern Africa with 1500 (17%). Most geophytes in WA are Tuberous Orchids, compared to other regions where true bulbs or corms predominate. The “worst” geophytic weeds are from the Hyacinthaceae (Lachenalia), Araceae (Zantedeschia), Asparagaceae (Asparagus), Iridaceae (Babiana, Freesia, Gladiolus, Moraea, Romulea, Sparaxis and Watsonia) and the Oxalidaceae (Oxalis). A wide variety of common and rare habitats are seriously impacted by these species. Virtually all geophytic weeds are confined to the south west, especially around Perth where 98 species have been recorded. Most of these weeds are still actively expanding their ranges. There are currently none recorded for the Kimberley or Desert regions of Western Australia. However, numerous species occur overseas in similar climates and several are locally naturalised on offshore islands (Cocos and Christmas). Since nearly all these weeds were introduced as ornamentals we must be aware that many highly desirable species not yet commonly cultivated are potentially weedy. Although there are many potential geophytic weeds in North and South America, Asia and Africa, trade and horticultural links to these regions have been rare in the past. We need to be alert to new introductions of such geophytes, especially where such weeds are currently absent. Another major priority is preventing continuing spread and impact of established serious geophytic weeds in southern Western Australia. 20 21 THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN MEDIATION IN SPECIES ESTABLISHMENT: ANALYSIS OF ALIEN FLORA OF ESTONIA (NORTH-EUROPE) Ööpik M, Kull T Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Riia Str. 181, 51014 Tartu, Estonia Widely appreciated approach to explain mechanisms of crossing invasion phases uses analyses of alien species databases of certain recipient territory. We compiled a comprehensive list of alien species ever recorded in Estonian vegetation using various data sources: herbarium specimens, vegetation inventories etc. We expected that deliberately introduced species (pre and after introduction selected, repeatedly escaped from cultivation) have advantages in passing the reproductive and environmental barriers. The database consists of 787 neophytes from 87 families. We estimated invasive status of each species and differentiated species according to the mode of introduction (accidental versus deliberate, Figure 1). We also added species biological and ecological data for analysis. Figure 1. Herbaceous perennials show higher probability to achieve wider distribution than short-lived species. The pattern in achieved invasive status differs significantly between accidentally introduced (a) and deliberate species (b), and depends obviously on whether a species is a long-lived or not. Almost 70% of all alien species achieve only rare distribution but those species which originate from deliberate introduction tend to become more spread compared to accidentally introduced ones. Pre-selected perennial species escaping from cultivation have better opportunities to pass different barriers and naturalise especially in (semi-) natural communities. We shall discuss the alien flora also in respect of residence time in Estonia. 22 23 A RARE SUCCESS STORY FROM NEW ZEALAND: NO NEW AGRICULTURAL WEEDS FOR MANY YEARS! Williams PA1, Popay AI2, Gatehouse HA3, Healy AJ4 1Landcare Research, Nelson; 2Department of Conservation, Hamilton; 3Bioprotection and Ecology Division, Lincoln University, Lincoln; 498 Rattray Street, Riccarton, Christchurch [email protected] New Zealand has gained an international reputation for its efforts in controlling weeds, especially for the potential impact of recent biosecurity legislation. There is, however, little information on how effective past legislation has been in managing existing weeds and preventing the invasion of new ones. We seem to delight in demonstrating the rising number of newly naturalised exotics. But all of these new weeds are problems in environmental habitats, and it is many years since any new agricultural weeds appeared. Most of our agricultural weeds were introduced in the early days of New Zealand’s European settlement and the number of newly declared species declined considerably from about 1970 onwards. Some of the reasons for this may have been the more stringent regulations of the 1978 Noxious Plants Act (including enhanced surveillance for new species and quicker action in containing them), but other reasons may include gradually improvements of controls of the purity of imported agricultural seed, greater care in preventing the importation of potentially dangerous plant species, increasingly effective seed cleaning equipment and better weed control practices. We describe the patterns of importation, and details of the legislation dealing with invasive alien weeds. We discuss the effective containment of potentially serious agricultural weeds like nassella tussock, cape tulip and Johnson grass, and the probable effects of improved import and seed purity standards. 22 23 GLOBAL INVASIVE SPECIES INFORMATION NETWORK: DEVELOPING A PILOT SYSTEM TO SHARE INVASIVE SPECIES CHECKLIST INFORMATION GLOBALLY Sellers E1, Graham J2, Simpson A1, Browne M3 1US National Biological Information Infrastructure, 2Colorado State University-Ft. Collins, USA, 3Invasive Species Specialist Group, New Zealand. [email protected] The transport, translocation, and introduction of invasive alien species (IAS) are issues of global concern. Successful early detection, prevention, and management of IAS and their impacts on the environment require global cooperation on IAS information exchange. The Global Invasive Species Information Network (GISIN) was proposed at the 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), The Hague, 2002. It is a network of IAS researchers, experts, information managers, and computer scientists sharing knowledge and experience, adopting standards and protocols for information exchange, and increasing availability of IAS information at local, national, regional, and global levels. In 2004, experts from 26 countries attended the first GISIN meeting to establish goals and a Steering Committee to move the network forward. In 2005 a Web site was established for the GISIN <http://www.gisinetwork.org> and an extensible markup language (XML) schema for invasive species profiles was developed with support from the CBD Secretariat. The schema will establish a standard method for global IAS information exchange and cross- search of unconnected databases. In 2006 a Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG) Invasive Species Information Systems interest group was formed in order to take the draft Invasive Alien Species Profile Schema through a formal standards adoption process. In 2007, the GISIN, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and TDWG are developing a prototype Web system to share invasive species checklist information among diverse types of online information systems, in order to prevent and/or manage incipient invasions. The enclosed figure is a representation of the pilot system. Related products (in brief) that members of the GISIN plan to produce: • Tools for implementation of a data registry and cross search using a standard protocol • Improved Invasive Alien Species Profile Schema for standardized species pages • Interactive maps of existing invasions • Predictive models of potential invasions Keywords: invasive alien species, IAS, invasive species, invasives, alien species, exotic species, introduced species, bioinvaders, cyberinfrastructure, biological informatics, information exchange, databases, information systems, Internet, global invasive species information network, GISIN, extensible markup language, XML, information