A BIODIVERSITY INFORMATICS APPROACH TO PREVENTING INVASIONS: USING A WHOLE NON-NATIVE FLORA TO INVESTIGATE INTRODUCTION PATHWAYS AND METHODS FOR INVASION TRACKING

Brock, Kelsey C.

A BIODIVERSITY INFORMATICS APPROACH TO PREVENTING INVASIONS: USING A WHOLE NON-NATIVE FLORA TO INVESTIGATE INTRODUCTION PATHWAYS AND METHODS FOR INVASION TRACKING

Files

Brock_hawii_0085A_11204.pdf (3.1 MB)

Date

2021

Authors

Brock, Kelsey C.

Advisor

Daehler, Curtis C.

Department

Botany

Abstract

Negative impacts from biological invasions continue to rise as non-native species spread around the globe. As the costs of controlling these species increases significantly after their establishment and spread, invasion biologists acknowledge that strategies to prevent invasions should be a key focus in addressing invasive species problems. However, numerous species may be introduced each year, making it difficult to prioritize would-be invaders among hundreds of other species. Thus, strategies that identify and regulate pathways for species introductions are needed to complement species-specific approaches. Furthermore, methods to track the rate at which new species establish and their fate after arrival are lacking, despite the need to assess risks from future invaders and evaluate the success of prevention strategies. To address these issues, I gathered data on the date of naturalization for the entire naturalized flora of the Hawaiian Islands alongside data on their origins, native climate type, taxonomy and likely reason for introduction (introduction pathway). By comparing rates of naturalization for each introduction pathway with changes in socioeconomic factors, I reveal that Hawaiʻi has received a diversity of plants from all over the world, and that the rate of ornamental plant naturalizations has risen dramatically since the mid-20th century, reflecting Hawaiʻi’s shift to a tourism-based economy from an agricultural one. I also show that, although many naturalized plants may currently exist in Hawaiʻi at lower elevations with warmer climates, a large proportion are native to climates similar to those found at higher elevations. This pattern is significant because Hawaiʻi’s remnant native-dominated ecosystems exist primarily at higher elevations, indicating that preventing non-natives from establishing in native ecosystems is crucial to conservation of native species. Additionally, the rate of spread between islands has increased since the mid-20th century, highlighting the need to prevent inter-island spread. To explore the pitfalls that arise when measuring rates of naturalization over time, I then focused on a relatively neglected factor that can bias analyses: time lags that accrue when processing data after their collection in the field. Using computer simulations and an analysis of a real-world case study of two independently collected datasets for the Hawaiian Islands, I illustrate how time lags interact with common data retrieval strategies to influence the interpretation of invasion trends. By doing so, I reveal that long lags due to insufficient field surveying can create the illusion of a sudden onset or exponential rise in naturalization rates, whereas lags in identification, reporting and compilation result in the deceptive appearance of an invasion slow down. I also show that harvesting data from already-compiled resources published by experts may introduce a temporal sampling bias because such works are sporadically produced, thereby introducing an additional lag between reporting and data compilation. Lastly, I investigate a strategy for tracking species after their arrival by using Hawaiʻi’s naturalized species checklist as a starting point and applying a well-recognized framework that categorizes the phase of a non-native species’ establishment along the introduction–invasion continuum. After finding that data deficiencies prevent hundreds of species from being categorized within the framework, I show that data from the Hawaiʻi-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment can be reappropriated to predict whether a data-deficient species will progress along the continuum. Ultimately, I reveal that this predictive tool is a promising supplement to on-the-ground monitoring, especially when frequent field surveys are not feasible. Although globalization continues to facilitate numerous invasions, our ability to harness data and solve problems using biodiversity informatics is advancing rapidly. Here, I contribute to this progress by uncovering trends useful to policymakers and managers in invader-rich regions, while also offering guidance on how to improve methods used to measure those trends and track invasions.

Keywords

Botany, Biology, Bioinformatics, biodiversity informatics, biological invasions, introduction pathways, islands, monitoring, plants

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10125/81620

Extent

152 pages

Rights

All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.

Collections

Ph.D. - Botany

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