3rd International Symposium Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants October 2nd to 7th, 2011 Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland Abstracts Editors Christian Bohren, Mario Bertossa, Nicola Schoenenberger, Marta Rossinelli, Marco Conedera 3rd International Symposium Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants October 2nd to 7th, 2011 Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland Abstracts Editors Christian Bohren, Mario Bertossa, Nicola Schoenenberger, Marta Rossinelli, Marco Conedera Published by European Weed Research Society EWRS Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW Servizio itosanitario cantonale, Bellinzona Museo cantonale di storia naturale, Lugano Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL Responsible institutions and supporting organizations: European Weed Research Society EWRS Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW Repubblica e Cantone Ticino Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf Recommended form of citation: Bohren, C.; Bertossa, M.; Schoenenberger, N.; Rossinelli, M.; Conedera, M. (eds) 2011: 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants. Abstracts. October 2 to 7, 2011. Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland. Birmensdorf, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL. 149 pp. PDF-Download: www.wsl.ch/publikationen/pdf/11260.pdf and www.ewrs.org/IW/default.asp Cover: Artemisia verlotiorum, Phytolacca americana, Pistia stratiotes, Reynoutria japonica, Salvinia molesta Layout: Sandra Gurzeler, WSL Sponsors We thank all our sponsors for supporting us inancially and technically. In fact they guaranteed the realization of this symposium in Ascona: Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW Alptransit San Gottardo Associazione per il Promovimento della Foraggicoltura APF AWEL, Baudirektion Kanton Zürich Comune di San Antonino Erbo Group, Bützberg European Weed Research Society EWRS Federal ofice for the Environment, Berne Repubblica e Cantone Ticino Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL swisslos University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences BOKU, Vienna Symposium venue Address of Monte Verità: Fondazione Monte Verità Via Collina 84 CH-6612 Ascona Dir. +41 (0)91 785 40 40, Fax +41 (0)91 785 40 50 E-mail info@monteverita.org, Internet www.monteverita.org Local organizers Christian Bohren Mario Bertossa Tobias Buser Marco Conedera Susanne Raschle Marta Rossinelli Nicola Schönenberger Agroscope ACW Changins Agroscope ACW Cadenazzo WSL, Birmensdorf WSL, Bellinzona WSL, Birmensdorf Servizio itosanitario cantonale, Bellinzona Museo cantonale di storia naturale, Lugano christian.bohren@acw.admin.ch mario.bertossa@acw.admin.ch tobias.buser@wsl.ch marco.conedera@wsl.ch susanne.raschle@wsl.ch marta.rossinelli@ti.ch nicola.schoenenberger@ti.ch © 2011, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and European Weed Research Society EWRS Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Table of Contents Table of contents Session organizers General information Schedule at a glance Program 4 5 6 9 Abstracts Session 1: Causes and impacts of plant invasions Oral presentations Posters 13 21 Session 2: Agricultural weeds and plant invaders: biology, ecology, what can we learn from each other? Oral presentations Posters 35 43 Session 3: How far are control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders? Oral presentations 63 Posters 71 Session 4: Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Oral presentations Posters 93 101 Session 5: The example ambrosia: management options and integration across target habitats Oral presentations Posters 107 115 Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Oral presentations Posters 133 141 Map of Ascona 150 3 General Information Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Session organizers Session 1 Sara Tramontini European Food Safety Agency, Plant Health Unit Parma, Italy sara.tramontini@efsa.europa.eu Heinz Müller-Schärer University of Fribourg, Switzerland heinz.mueller@unifr.ch Session 2 François Bretagnolle INRA Dijon, France breta@dijon.inra.fr Guillaume Fried CBGP ANSES Montpellier, France guillaume.fried@anses.fr Session 3 Paul Hatcher Josef Soukup Session 4 Uwe Staringer Christian Bohren Session 5 Gerhard Karrer Tom Wohlgemuth Session 6 Ahmet Uludag Gian-Reto Walther 4 University of Reading, Great Britain p.e.hatcher@reading.ac.uk Czech University for Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic, soukup@af.czu.cz Julius Kühn Institut, Braunschweig, Germany uwe.staringer@jki.bund.de Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW Research Station, christian.bohren@acw.admin.ch University of Natural Resources and Applied Lifesciences BOKU Vienna, Austria gerhard.karrer@boku.ac.at Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL Birmensdorf, Switzerland tom@wsl.ch European Environment Agency Copenhagen, Denmark ahmet.uludag@eea.europa.eu Federal Ofice for the Environment FOEN Bern, Switzerland gian-reto.walther@bafu.admin.ch Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 General Information General Information to participants We welcome you to the 3rd Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants (Intractable Weeds and Plant Invaders) and hope you will have an exciting conference, an interesting ield trip and a pleasant stay in Ticino. Catering Coffee breaks, lunches (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) dinners (Monday, Thursday), and the welcome reception (Sunday) are included in your registration. Coffee breaks are served at the bar, lunch and dinner in the restaurant. Speakers Speakers are kindly requested to contact the chairman of their session block in order to upload their presentation before the beginning of the session. PC projection will be provided. Please take note that it will not be allowed to present from your own computer. Extended abstract Extended abstract are available at www.invasive.weeds.ascona.ewrs.org/ und www.wsl.ch/publikationen/ewrs Posters Poster set up from Sunday evening onwards. Posters should be put up at the latest in the morning of the day allocate to its presentation and may hang during the whole symposium. You may ind your poster place by the number corresponding to the page number in this program. Authors are expected to be in attendance during the poster sessions. Please be also prepared for a short (3 min) presentation in the plenary. Posters must be removed by Friday October 7th noon at the latest. Internet access Monte Verità provides a WLAN-Access point within the whole congress area. Please select the CSF-net and enter “conference” as password. Conference dinner A conference dinner will be organized Tuesday October 4th at the Isole di Brissago. To join the dinner you need to be registered in advance. A correspondent tag will appear on your congress pass. Departure time and detailed program will be communicated during the daily session. Field trip Wednesday October 5th is devoted to the ield trip. To join the ield trip you need to be registered in advance. A correspondent tag will appear on your congress pass. Please note that we will start at 8:45 and be back in Ascona late at night. So please take some warm clothes with you. In the morning we will visit the Bolle di Magadino wetlands. Because of the possible presence of mosquitoes we advice to wear long clothes. Hotel pick up service For participants staying in hotels outside the Monte Verità a shuttle bus will be organised at 8:30 am from the Post Ofice in Ascona downtown to the conference site (on Wednesday departure at 8:15). Registration fee does not cover accommodation, meals, drinks and transport other than that provided as part of the Symposium program as well as optional sightseeing tours and excursions 5 Schedule at a glance Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Schedule at a glance Time Sunday October 2nd 09:00 Monday October 3th Welcome / introduction Keynote: Nicola Schoenenberger 10:00 Coffee break Session 1: Causes and impacts of plant invasions 11:00 Keynote: Urs Schaffner 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 Session 2 (continued) Coffee break Session 3: How far are control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders? Keynote: Markus Hochstrasser Lunch Lunch Session 1 (continued) Session 3 (continued) Coffee break Coffee break Session 2: Agricultural weeds and plant invaders: biology, ecology, what can we learn from each other? Keynote: Mark van Kleunen Session 4: Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Keynote: Andreas Hussner Poster Session Poster Session Seminar or WG meetings Seminar or WG meetings Arrivals Registration opens at 14:00 17:00 18:00 Tuesday October 4th Coffee / snacks Oficial reception 19:00 Dinner 20:00 Public regional meeting (in Italian language) 21:00 6 Conference dinner on Isole di Brissago Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Schedule at a glance Schedule at a glance Wednesday October 5th Thursday October 6th Friday October 7th Session 4 (continued) Session 6: Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Keynote: Cécilia Claeys Field excursion day Departure by bus at Monte Verita (8:45) Visit of Bolle di Magadino Invasive plants and nature protection Coffee break on the way Invasive plants in agricultural ields (if not yet harvested) Session 5: The example ambrosia: management options and integration across target habitats Keynote: Uwe Staringer Lunch at Alptransit Lunch Time 09:00 10:00 Coffee break 11:00 Session 6 (continued) Closing remarks 12:00 Lunch Departures Session 5 (continued) Visit of Alptransit in Sigirino Coffee break 14:00 15:00 Invasive plants and construction sites Poster Session Guided tour in the park of Monte Verità General Assembly of International Ragweed Society 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 Supper in the ield Dinner 20:00 21:00 7 Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Program Monday, October 3rd Introduction Chair: Marco Conedera 9:00–9:30 Welcome adresses 9:30–10:15 Alien plants in southern Switzerland, one of Europe‘s invasion hotspots Keynote: Schönenberger, N. 10:15–10:45 Coffee break Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Chair: Tramontini, S.; Müller-Schärer, H. 10:45–11:15 Environmental impact of invasive plants: from cases studies to meta-analyses Keynote: Schaffner, U. 11:15–11:30 Invasive Alien Plant Species and their effects on Biodiversity Conservation in Nigeria Borokini, T.I. 11:30–11:45 Role of the European Food Safety Authority in risk assessment of exotic harmful organisms Gilioli, G. 11:45–12:00 Propagule sources and post-ire spread of alien plant species. A case study from Ticino Maringer, J. 12:00–12:15 Community-level impacts of three invasive alien plants in Mediterranean coastal habitats Chague, N. 12:15–13:45 Lunch 13:45–14:00 How habitat destruction inluences the invasion of exotic species with different competitive abilities Liu, H. 14:00–14:15 Propagation of Grevillea banksii, an invasive exotic plant species: impacts on structure and functioning of mycorrhizal community associated with natives tree species in eastern part of Madagascar Andrianandrasana, M.D. 14:15–14:45 Discussion / poster presentation session 1 14:45–15:15 Coffee break Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders: biology, ecology, what can we learn from each other? Chair: Bretagnolle, F.; Fried, G. 15:15–15:45 The ´weedy´ traits of invasive alien plants Keynote: van Kleunen, M. 15:45–16:00 Linking species traits of alien plants with environmental characteristics of agricultural habitats Jauni, M. 16:00–16:15 The Riddle of Gunnera tinctoria Invasions: a Particularly Irish Enigma Osborne, B. 16:15–16:30 Morphological and molecular identiication of invasive and autochthonous Vitis taxa along Hungary Bodor, P. 16:30–17:15 Poster session 9 Abstracts Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Tuesday, October 4th Session 2 continued Agricultural weeds and plant invaders: biology, ecology, what can we learn from each other? Chair: Bretagnolle, F.; Fried, G. 9:00–9:15 Genetic diversity in native and invasive populations of Taeniatherum caput-medusae ssp. asperum (medusahead): evidence for multiple introductions, source populations and founder effects Novak, S.J. 9:15–9:30 Growth, reproduction and plant damage of Cirsium arvense in its native and invasive range Abela Hofbauerová, I. 9:30–9:45 Differences in population dynamics between native and invasive Centaurea stoebe: the role of life cycles and the impact of specialist herbivores Hahn, M. 9:45–10:15 Discussion / poster presentation session 2 10:15–10:45 Coffee break Session 3 How far are control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders? Chair: Hatcher, P.; Soukoup, J. 10:45–11:15 Control of invasive neophytes: using synergies in Swiss argricultural practice Keynote: Hochstrasser, M. 11:15–11:30 Spread and control options of the poisonous grassland weed Senecio aquaticus Bassler, G. 11:30–11:45 Plant preference by a specialist herbivore and its parasitoid on an exotic and native plant Fortuna, T. 11:45–12:00 Host Category Deining to Mitigate Orobanche aegyptiaca Pers. Infestation Ghotbi, M. 12:00–12:15 Evaluation of herbicidal activity of metabolites of Trichoderma spp. for the management of parthenium weed Javaid, A. 12:15–13:45 Lunch 13:45–14:00 Are biological traits behind the success of exotic plants in irrigated crops? The case of fruit tree orchards in NE of Spain Juárez, A. 14:00–14:15 Hordeum spontaneum: Invasive weed threatenes wheat farms in Iran Mirjalili, A.S. 14:15–14:45 Discussion / poster presentation session 3 14:45–15:15 Coffee break 10 Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Chair: Staringer, U.; Bohren, C. 15:15–15:45 Aquatic plant invaders in European freshwater ecosystems: an overview Keynote: Hussner, A. 15:45–16:00 Changes in aquatic macrophyte communities in large oligotrophic Lake Ala-Kitka, northeastern Finland – effects of invasive aquatic macrophyte Elodea canadensis Väisänen, A.M. 16:00–16:15 Management of invasive alien species in French aquatic ecosystems: irst results of a national survey Mazaubert, E. 16:15–16:30 Importance of Ludwigia grandilora as invasive weed on meadows in West France Haury, J. 16:30–17:15 Poster session Thursday, October 6th Session 4 continued Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Chair: Staringer, U.; Bohren, C. 9:00–9:15 Impact of an invasive aquatic plant: the case of Ludwigia grandilora Stiers, I. 9:15–9:30 Assessment of the management of the biological invasion of Water primrose species in France Dutartre, A. 9:30–9:45 Cabomba caroliniana Gray in The Netherlands van Valkenburg, J. 9:45–10:00 Relative growth rate and strategy of invasive and native Lemnid species in indoor and ield experiments: is there an effect of nutrient reduction? Gérard, J. 10:00–10:15 Discussion / poster presentation session 4 10:15–10:45 Coffee break Session 5 The example ambrosia: management options and integration across target habitats Chair: Karrer, G.; Wohlgemuth, T. 10:45–11:15 Can Europe successfully ight the ragweed invasion? Keynote: Staringer, U. 11:15–11:30 European initiative for sustainable management of Ambrosia artemisiifolia Müller-Schärer, H. 11:30–11:45 Common ragweed pollen counts (Cour’s method), temperatures, rains, relative humidity: evolution 1982–2010 in Lyon (France) Méon, H. 11:45–12:00 Population structure and migration routes of the invasive Common ragweed in eastern Central Europe deduced from microsatellite markers Blöch, C. 11 Abstracts Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, 2011 12:00–12:15 Competitive suppression of common ragweed in early successional stages of revegetation Milakovic, I. 12:15–13:45 Lunch 13:45–14:00 The “Berlin Action Programme against Ambrosia” Dümmel, T. 14:00–14:15 Optimization of cutting regimes for control of ragweed along roadsides Karrer, G. 14:15–14:45 Discussion / poster presentation session 5 14:45–15:15 Coffee break 15:15–16:15 Poster session 16:15–17:15 Guided tour in the park of Monte Verità Friday, October 7th Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Chair: Uludag, A. 9:00–9:30 The perception and management of invasive plants: Between environment and social changes Keynote: Claeys, C. 9:30–9:45 IASWATCH under EYEONEARTH Uludag, A. 9:45–10:00 Prioritization of alien plants for risk analysis Staringer, U. 10:00–10:15 Lists of invasive alien plants – a tool for implementing Rometsch, S. 10:15–10:45 Coffee break 10:45–11:00 Status of knowledge on invasive species in Mexico: future steps Koleff, P. 11:00–11:15 AGIN a working group of the cantonal authorities of Switzerland to coordinate their reaction concerning neobiota Fischer, D. 11:15–11:30 Evolution of prevalence of ragweed pollinosis in Europe: studies or estimations, 1987–2010 Déchamp, C. 11:30–12:00 Discussion / poster presentation session 6 12:00–12:15 Closing remarks 12:15–13:45 Lunch 12 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Oral presentations Keynote Environmental impact of invasive plants: from cases studies to meta-analyses Schaffner, Urs CABI Europe, Switzerland urs.schaffner@cabi.org Over the past decade, a large number of experimental and review studies have addressed the factors that increase the likelihood of exotic species to become invasive. On the other hand, despite the global concern about losses of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, relatively little effort has been put in collecting quantitative information on the actual environmental impact caused by invasive species. Also, there is a lack of conceptual frameworks to assess environmental impact and to develop generalities in terms of how impact depends on species traits or habitat attributes, how impact varies across levels of ecological complexity (populations, communities, ecosystems), across trophic levels, or in time. More quantitative data based on detailed case studies or on multi-species comparisons would not only allow testing some of the basic concepts of ecology, but also setting priorities in managing biotic invasions, and potentially assessing the environmental risks associated with non-native species prior to their introduction. Focusing on invasive plant species, arguably the best studied group among the long list of invasive species, I will try to elaborate key questions that need to be addressed in future studies addressing the environmental impact of invasive species. Keywords ecology, biotic invasions, non-native species, environmental impact 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 13 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Invasive Alien Plant Species and their effects on Biodiversity Conservation in Nigeria Borokini, Temitope Israel National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Nigeria tbisrael@gmail.com This study was conducted to identify the invasive species in the ield gene bank of the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), Ibadan, Nigeria, on the latitude 7° 22’ north of the equator and longitude 3° 50’ east of the Greenwich Meridian, and also to assess the level of the species’ disturbance to the conserved native plants in the protected area. This study involved sampling of the ield gene bank and an on-site assessment and identiication of the species and their effects on the indigenous plants established in the ield for conservation. Twenty-ive invasive plant species were identiied, across 16 plant families, of which 14 were herbs, followed by vines, shrubs, and trees, all of which are presently estimated to occupy about 18% of the gene bank. The effects of IAS on the indigenous plants conserved in the ield gene bank range from competition for space and nutrients and alteration of the tree canopies (thereby affecting the microclimatic conditions in the lower strata) to obstruction of the plants’ reception of sunlight (which could thereby reduce the potential yield of the fruit trees in the gene bank. Human disturbance was observed as the major factor responsible for the spread of these IAS in the gene bank. The paper concludes by advocating stricter screening measures before introducing new plants into the country, capacity building on the early detection and management of IAS in protected areas for the technical staff, biological control, and exchange of technical information among concerned countries. Keywords Invasive alien species, Biodiversity conservation, ield gene bank, NACGRAB, Nigeria 14 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Role of the European Food Safety Authority in risk assessment of exotic harmful organisms Gilioli, Gianni European Food Safety Authority, Italy gigiliol@tin.it The European Food Safety Authority provides independent and transparent scientiic advice and communication on risks relating to the safety and security of the food chain in the European Community. The EFSA Scientiic Panel on Plant Health addresses the increasing demand of EU risk managers for scientiic advice on risks posed by organisms harmful to plants and plant products. Since its inception in 2006, the Panel has delivered about ifty scientiic opinions on the risks posed by various species of exotic plant pests, pathogens, and invasive plants. Though every pest risk assessment procedure includes the assessment of environmental consequences of introduction and spread of pests, currently there are neither guidelines, nor standardised methodology supporting this procedure. EFSA is developing a document that will review the current approaches and methodologies that assess environmental risks related to pests, and, more important, will recommend a methodology to prepare an environmental risk assessment of plant pests, including invasive plants. The guidance document will be subjected to a public consultation, which will also involve the scientiic community engaged in environmental risk assessment of weeds and invasive plants in new territories. Keywords risk assessment, Europa 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 15 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Propagule sources and post-ire spread of alien plant species. A case study from Ticino Maringer, Janet (1); Wohlgemuth, Thomas (2); Conedera, Marco (2); Neff, Christophe (3) 1: Universität Stuttgart, Germany 2: Swiss Federal Institute of Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL 3: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Germany Christophe.Neff@kit.edu Disturbances, such as ire, are important components of many ecosystems. However, ire is also known to increase the invisibility of plant communities by alien plant species. This problem has been recognized and intensively studied but little is known about the importance of propagule sources for the spread of alien plant species into disturbed ecosystems. Is the spread of alien plant species into disturbed areas dependent on propagule sources in the surrounding gardens? Are there any differences in the way alien plant species invade forest ecosystems depending on their propagule dispersal strategy? We addressed these questions in a case study in the Swiss Canton of Ticino. In April 2006, a ire with unusual intensity burnt a forest area of 55 ha. Vegetation data of alien plant species in the surrounding private gardens were collected in summer 2008 and a year later within the burnt and unburnt sections of the forest. Seedling data was systematically collected by species, age and external damages. We detected two main groups of alien plant species in both forest ecosystems. At the burnt site we found mainly pioneer light-demanding alien plant species with wind dispersed seeds. Their abundance did not depend on surrounding propagule sources. Compared to the pioneers, shade tolerant and mainly bird-dispersed alien plant species tended to spread into the unburnt forest. Most of the latter group are laurophyllous. It was also recognized that some alien plant species invaded the burnt and unburnt forest although they were not cultivated in the surrounding gardens. Keywords post ire invasion, Robinia pseudoacacia, Ailanthus altissima, invasive alien species 16 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Community-level impacts of three invasive alien plants in Mediterranean coastal habitats Chague, Nicolas (2); Fried, Guillaume (1) 1: Anses, France 2: Université de Bourgogne, France fried@supagro.inra.fr Rigourous impact assessments are of vital importance for policy makers or land managers which have to set management priorities between invasive species, given limited inancial resources. Although there is a general consensus regarding the negative effect of invasive alien species, studies that quantify community-level effects of invasive plants are still scarce. The aims of this study were i) to explore the impact of invasive plants on plant communities diversity and composition and ii) to analyze how this impact can vary according to the abundance and the traits of the invaders as well as the traits of native species. For three invasive species, representing different growth forms (Amorpha fruticosa, Carpobrotus spp. and Phyla iliformis), 90 pairs of vegetation plots were sampled during spring 2011, in invaded areas and in neighbouring non-invaded areas. In addition, the sampling also covers a gradient of ~ 0% to ~ 100% coverage of Carpobrotus. Our study highlights that the nature and the magnitude of the impacts differed markedly according to the invading species and the invaded habitat. The impact on native species richness was highest for Carpobrotus (50% to 66% of species loss) followed by P. iliformis (11% to 26%) while dense stands of A. fruticosa had only an impact on species composition (in favour of annual nitrophilous species). Concerning abundance-effect relationships, species richness decreased linearly with increasing Carpobrotus cover, without detectable thresholds. Finally, the inluence of the size of the native dominant species on the magnitude of the observed impact is discussed. Keywords ecological impact, traits, plant height, plant cover, communities, species richness, species evenness, mediterranean 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 17 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions How habitat destruction inluences the invasion of exotic species with different competitive abilities Liu, Huiyu; Lin, Zhenshan; Qi, Xiangzhen; Wen, Teng Nanjing Normal University, China liuhuiyu@njnu.edu.cn Invasive exotic species and habitat destruction are the major causes of biodiversity loss. Their interactive effects on species diversity are seldom studied. The effects of habitat destruction on the exotic species with different competitive abilities have been simulated by a multi-species model based on competition-dispersal trade-off. The results show that: 1) The introductions of exotic species will threaten species adjacent in the competitive hierarchy irstly, and then their inferior competitors. 2) The extinction caused by invasive species will proceed in order from best to poorest. 3) The responses to habitat destruction of exotic species will vary according to the odd-ranked and even-ranked species. 4) The invasion success is dependent on the interaction between habitat destruction and competition between exotic and native species. So, strategies for habitat conservation to control exotic species should take the interactive effects of habitat destruction and competition into consideration. Moreover, to protect and develop superior competitor next to exotic species will be effective to control exotic invasion. Keywords competitive ability, exotic invasion, habitat destruction, competition-dispersal trade-off 18 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Propagation of Grevillea banksii, an invasive exotic plant species: impacts on structure and functioning of mycorrhizal community associated with natives tree species in eastern part of Madagascar Andrianandrasana, Martial Doret (1); Ramanankierana, Heriniaina (1); Baohanta, Rondro Harinisainana (1, 2); Raherimandimby, Marson (2); Rakotoniaina, Henintsoa Volatiana (2); Duponnois, Robin (3) 1: National Center of Researches on the Environment, Madagascar 2: Laboratoire de Microbiologie et Biotechnonologie university of Antananarivo 3: Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement Marrakech-Maroc UMR 113 IRD/CIRAD/AGRO-M/ UM2 USC INRA 1242 martialdoreta@gmail.com Propagation of exotic plant species is found in many regions of Madagascar Island. This work aims to describe the impacts of propagation of Grevillea banksii on soil microbial activities and on the regeneration of two native tree species (Intsia bijuga and Dalbergia trichocarpa) in the eastern part of Madagascar. The study was conducted within Ianjomara forest where some structure of the vegetation are observed such as an area characterized by grassland (P1), by homogeneous population of Grevillea banksii (P2) and by a natural forest composed mainly by Intsia bijuga or Dalbergia trichocarpa (P3 and P4). Structure of mycorrhizal fungi communities and associated microorganisms were described on soils from each study plots. Cultivated on P1, P2, P3, P4 soils previously colonized by Grevillea banksii during 4 months, the development of Intsia bijuga and Dalbergia trichocarpa, was evaluated after 4 months culturing. According to the nutrients availability on each soil types, the development of Grevillea banksii was accompanied or not by a high formation of proteoïd roots. Our results showed also that soil occupation by Grevillea banksii decreased the total microbial and phosphatases activities of soil especially on soil within a high density of proteoid roots. Slightly mycotrophic, Grevillea banksii disturb the structure and the dynamics of symbiotic microlora such as endomycorrhizal fungi (MA) and rhizobia associated with the two native tree species. Those indings illustrated the negative impact of G. banksii propagation on the regeneration and the conservation of native tree species in Madagascarian forest. Keywords Invasive plant, Grevillea banksii, microbial community, proteoid roots, native tree species 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 19 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Posters 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 21 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Cardinal temperatures of three invasive weeds in Iran Sohrabi, Sima (1); Gherekhloo, Javid (2); Ghanbari, Ali (1); Rashed Mohasel, Mohamad Hassan (1); Nassiri Mahalati, Mahdi (1); De Prado, Rafael (3) 1: Ferdowsi Univ. of Mashhad,Faculty of Agriculture, Iran 2: University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran 3: University of Cordoba, Spain simsoh@gmail.com Smellmelon is an herbaceous, annual vine of the Cucurbitaceae family that it has invaded to soybean ields in north of Iran (Golestan province). Syrian mesquite is a xerophytic woody shrub of Fabaceae family which became widespread in many parts of Iran. Lesser celandine is an invasive perennial with tuberous root weed of Ranunculaceae family that has invaded to wheat ields in western Iran mainly Lorestan province. To determine cardinal temperatures of these invasive weeds three separate experiments were conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications. Seeds of Smellmelon were incubated at 20, 25, 27, 30, 35, 37, 40, 43 and 45 ˚C for 2 weeks. Seeds of Syrian mesquite after Soaking in concentrated sulfuric acid for 30 min and breaking dormancy were incubated at 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 ˚C for 2 weeks. Tubers of Lesser cleandine after breaking dormancy (more than 2 weeks at 4 or 8 ˚C) were incubated at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 ˚C for 2 weeks. Obtained data subjected to regression analysis using intersected-lines model (ISL). The results showed that the optimum temperature for seeds germination of Smellmelon, Syrian mesquite and tubers germination of lesser cleandine was 34.5, 34 and 10˚C respectively. Base temperature for germination of Smellmelon, Syrian mesquite and tubers germination of lesser cleandine estimated 24.7, 11 and 0 ˚C, respectively. Ceiling temperature for mentioned weeds also estimated as 44.5, 45.5 and 25 ˚C, respectively. Keywords Cucumis melo (Smellmelon), Prosopis stephaniana, syn P. farcta (Syrian mesquite), Ranunculus icaria (Lesser cleandine) 22 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Invasion of an exotic plant species, Pinus patula, within the sclerophyllous forest of Uapaca bojeri: effects on soil microbial activity. Baohanta, Rondro Harinisainana (1); Ratahiriarisoa, Dina (1); Rakotoarimanga, Nirina (2); Ramanankierana, Heriniaina (2); Duponnois, Robin (3) 1: University of Antananarivo/ Faculty of Sciences, Madagascar 2: Centre National de Recherches sur l‘Environnement, Madagascar 3: Laboratory of Ecology and Environment-Marrakech, Maroc. LSTM UMR 113 IRD/CIRAD/ AGRO-M/UM2 USC INRA 1242 ninish.rondro@yahoo.fr Some exotic species become invasive by modifying the structure of mycorrhizal community, soil microbial activity and by disturbing native plant regeneration in the host ecosystem. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the invasion of an exotic species, Pinus patula, on soil ectomycorrhizal fungus dynamics and on the development of Uapaca bojeri, an endemic tree species in the sclerophyllous forest of Madagascarian Highland. Seedlings of U. bojeri and P. patula were planted under controlled conditions on soil collected under U. bojeri, P. patula and on degraded area outside vegetation inluences respectively. Plant development, soil enzymatic activities, and root mycorrhizal rate were evaluated. Shoot and root biomass weight of P. patula seedlings grown on soil collected under U. bojeri and P. patula were signiicantly higher than those cultivated on degraded soil. However, seedlings development of U. bojeri was inhibited on soil previously inluenced by P. patula. Regarding the ectomycorrhizal morphotypes, root system of U. bojeri seedlings grown on its original soil showed an ectomycorrhizal rate signiicantly higher with an important morphological diversity than those recorded on seedlings cultivated on P. patula original soil. Moreover, soil colonization by P. patula decreased phosphatase and total microbial activities especially on soil from the habitat of U. bojeri and on degraded soil. These results suggest that the dynamic of soil microbial community within the forest ecosystem of U. bojeri was negatively inluenced by the propagation of the exotic plant species, P. patula, and that this exotic plant species constitutes a signiicant threat for native plant regeneration and for sustainable management of the ecosystem. Keywords Biological invasion, Uapaca bojeri, ectomycorrhiza, soil microbial activities, exotic plant species 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 23 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Climatic Potential and Key Meteorological Drivers for the Dynamics of Invasive Plant Species in Romanian Protected Areas Dragota, Carmen-Soia (1); Grigorescu, Ines (1); Dumitrascu, Monica (1); Doroftei, Mihai (2); Mierla, Marian (2); Nastase, Mihaela (3) 1: Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania 2: Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea 3: Protected Areas Department, Romanian Forest Administration, Bucharest inesgrigorescu@yahoo.com Climatic factors are key drivers in the dynamics of invasive terrestrial plant species (ITPS) especially when dealing with protected areas. Some of the most representative exotic ITPS are: Ailanthus altissima, Acer negundo, Amorpha fruticosa. The paper is aiming to analyse both the climatic potential and drivers responsible for the occurrence, development and spread of ITPS in the Romanian protected areas. Therefore, we used and processed annual, monthly and daily extreme climatic values (temperature, precipitations, wind) from all the relevant meteorological stations for the Romanian protected areas for the 1961–2007 time frame. Based on these climatic data, the climatic potential characteristic to the protected areas responsible for the development of the ITPS according to the climatic requirements of species and to the other environmental drivers were analyzed. Additionally, the paper is aiming to make a selection of the most widespread and aggressive ITPS in the Romanian protected areas in order to draw up each one’s niche proile in terms of climatic and topoclimatic requirements related to thermal, pluvial and eolian factors’ dynamics (parameters of temperature, precipitations, wind etc.). Ultimately, based on each plant’s climatic proile/requirements one could outline the key meteorological drivers responsible for their dynamics in the Romanian protected areas. The climatic potential and key meteorological drivers identiied for these ITPS will be used for the management and control measures required by each protected area’s management plan. Keywords meteorological drivers, Invasive Plant Species (IPS), climatic potential, Romanian protected areas 24 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Evaluation of Solidago gigantea Aiton allelopathic inluence on seed germination of winter oilseed rape and winter cereals Jezierska-Domaradzka, Anna (1); Bortniak, Marcin (2); Domaradzki, Krzysztof (2); Trajdos, Justyna (2) 1: University of Medicine, Poland 2: Institute of Soil Sciences and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute annajd@ogrod.am.wroc.pl Solidago gigantea Aiton is a very common weed species in the whole area of Poland, especially on fallow lands. The surface of this area is decrease each year because they are restored to agriculture production. The important problem is establish if a aboveground parts and roots of S. gigantea ploughed under have allelopathic inluence on seed germination of winter oilseed rape and winter cereals. In the year 2010 the 3 series of trials in greenhouse conditions were carried out. In this experiments allelopathic inluence on seed germination and early growth of roots the winter oilseed rape and winter cereals were estimated. In the trials the water extracts from aboveground parts and roots of S. gigantea were used. The allelopathic effect in the microbiotest Phytotoxkit was estimated. The strongest effect of germination and roots growth curbing at winter wheat treated by above-ground parts extract was observed. The roots were shorter by 52% however the germination capacity was reduced by 36%. The extract from roots of S. gigantea have had a little bit weaker effect on germination and roots growth of winter wheats. The length of roots and the germination capacity was curbed by 15–17%. In the case of triticale the growth of roots was reduced for 21% by water extract from aboveground parts of S. gigantea. The germination capacity of triticale and rye was lower by 16% under inluence of rood extract. In the case of winter oilseed rape and winter barley only a little bit inluence of water extracts from S. gigantea on seeds germination and roots growth was observed. Keywords Solidago gigantea, fallow lands, allelopathy, microbiotest 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 25 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Invasive Plants Which Threaten Natural Forest Ecosystems of Turkey Aksoy, Necmi Duzce University, Faculty of Forestry, Turkey necmiaksoy@duzce.edu.tr In Turkey, there are many herbaceous and woody exotic plant species used in reforestations and urban landscape activaties in past. Those plant species have been acquired an invasive and today, they are devastating natural forest ecosystems and biological diversity. In forest lands: Eucalyptus camuldulensis planted in Mediterrenean region causes a soil drought devestate the biological diversity of sands and wetlands. Pinus radiata, Pinus pinaster, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Robinia pesudoacacia and Acer negundo, which have been naturaized and rapidly spread, cause confused problems and close to nature in reforestations and conversions in Black Sea region and other georaphical regions. In urban lands, Ailanthus altissima, Amorpha fruticosa, could easily occupy roadsides, constructions historical and archeological lands. Diospyros lotus which is produced for its fruits has been acquired an invasive in Black Sea Forests while Acacia cyanophylla, Casuarina equisetifolia, Opuntia icus-indica, Lavetera arbore and Agave americana, adapted to Mediterrenean forest ecosystem, damege to natural lands. Also Sicyos angulatus, Abutilon theophrastii, Calendula arvensis, Phytolacca americana, Cartobrotus edulis, Ambrosia elatior and Conyza canadensis are other naturalized invasive herbaceous plants in different natural forest ecosytems of Turkey. Invasive plant species threaten natural forest ecosysetms should be determined and „in-situ“ mangement plans which conserve the biological diversity should be used in ruralurban lanscape studies and other forestry activities. Also in those activities natural palnt species acording to biological diversity structure should be used in comparison to invasive plants. Keywords Invasive plants, natural forest ecosystems, threaten and Turkey 26 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Impact of Psidium cattleianum invasion on soil microbial function and Uapaca louvelii regeneration, an autochthon forestry essence of Forest, Madagascar Rajaonarimamy, Elinarindra (1,2); Andrianarisoa, Blandine (1); Rasolomampianina, Rado (2); Baohanta, Rondro Harinisainana (1,2); Duponnois, Robin (3) 1: Antananarivo University, Madagascar 2: Environmental Microbiology of environmental National Research Center 3: Laboratory of Ecology - Environnement. Marrakech Maroc. LSTM UMR 113 IRD/CIRAD/ AGRO-M/UM2 USC INRA 1242 elinarindra@gmail.com Perturbations caused by alien species on native plants regeneration and on soil microbial dynamics are the major problem in terms of biodiversity conservation. In this study, our main objective was to evaluate the impacts of the propagation of an exotic plant species, Psidium cattleianum, i) on soil mycorrhizal fungus dynamics, and ii) on the regeneration of Uapaca louvelii an endemic species in the Eastern forest of Madagascar. Soil samples were collected within a homogenous formation of P. cattleianum, within a natural forest unperturbed by the presence of P. cattleianum, dominated mainly by the population of U. louvelii, and on a degraded soil outside vegetation inluences. Soil enzymatic activities, the most probable number of mycorrhizal propagules in soil and the total number of arbuscular Mycorrhiza (AM) spores in soil were measured. Seedlings developments of U. louvelii planted with seedlings of P. cattleianum or planted on soil previously colonized by P. cattleianum were measured after 4 months under greenhouse conditions. The total numbers of AM Fungal spores were signiicantly high in soil collected on the degraded soil and under the population of P. cattleianum. Total microbial activity and soil phosphatase activities were signiicantly higher in natural forest than those recorded with the other soil types. It was also showed that the development of the seedlings of U. louvelii was inhibited by the presence of P. cattleianum or when they were planted on soil previously inluenced by this exotic species. Those results show that P. cattleianum perturbs soil microbial functions and have negative effects on the development of U. louvelii. Keywords Biological invasion, Psidium cattleianum, regeneration, native essence, Uapaca louvelii 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 27 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Effects on plant and lichen diversity of black-locust invasion in Tuscany (Central-Italy) Foggi, Bruno (1); Zanetti, Silvana (1); Nascimbene, Juri (2); Giuliani, Claudia (1); Gennai, Matilde (1); Mariotti Lippi, Marta (1); Benesperi, Renato (1) 1: University of Florence, Italy 2: University of Trieste, Italy claudia.giuliani@unii.it Black-locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is a worldwide invader. In central and north Italy, its establishment was promoted by both chestnut blight and oak exploitation in the early 20th century, causing relevant changes in the landscape. The process of invasion is still increasing, being enhanced both by forest management in native oak and chestnut woodlands and the increase of urbanization in hilly areas. Despite this situation, exhaustive studies on the biology, ecology and distribution of black locust are still scanty in Italy and effects of this invasion on biodiversity are poorly known. The aim of this work was to compare species richness and composition of vascular plants and epiphytic lichens between native and black locust forests. The distribution of black locust was mapped in detail (1:10.000) in the whole administrative province of Pistoia (north-west Tuscany). According to structural features, black locust formations were classiied into three successional stages. In each stage, seven 10x10 m plots were randomly placed, minimum distance between plots of the same stage being 500m. Seven additional plots were placed in neighboring oak forests. In each plot, species richness and composition of vascular plants and epiphytic lichens were assessed using standardized methods. Signiicant differences in species richness and composition between native deciduous and black-locust forests were found for both organism groups, species richness being higher in native forests. Differences in species composition are mainly associated to a shift from plants and lichen communities typical of montane deciduous forests to more disturbance tolerant communities. Keywords Robinia pseudoacacia, invasion, Northern Apennines, diversity, native deciduous forests, native lichens 28 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Studying the effects of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexous) density and different levels of nitrogen on yield and yield components of saflower (Carthamus tinctorius) Zamani, Gholam Reza; Fayyazi, Zahra; Eslami, Sayyed Vahid The University of Birjand, Iran grz1343@yahoo.com The best way of weed management is accessible through recognizing how weeds compete with crops. Weed density is one of the most important factors affecting weed competition with crops and will justify some part of crop yield loss in competition with weeds. Desirable crop nutrition can be considered as a promising method for reducing the interference of weeds with crop plants. Nitrogen is of great importance in competition between plants. On this basis, a split plot experiment based on randomized complete block design with 4 replicates was conducted at Research Farm of Agriculture College of Birjand University, Iran during 2009. Experimental factors were nitrogen fertilizer (50, 100 and 150 kg ha-1 of nitrogen) as main plots and pigweed density (0, 4, 6 and 8 plants m-1 of crop row) as sub plots. Overall, the results of this study showed that yield and yield components (including 1000-grain weight and number of heads per square meter) increased with increasing nitrogen fertilizer. So that increasing nitrogen fertilizer to 150 kg ha-1 resulted in a 14% increase of grain yield. A negative effect of pigweed density on all studied traits except grain number per head was signiicant with a pigweed density of 8 plants m-1 having the most negative effect on grain yield with 28% reduction. Keywords competitions, nitrogen, weed density, red root pigweed, saflower 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 29 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Climate change and increasing weed infestation in the Mediterranean area Lovelli, Stella; Perniola, Michele; Valerio, Maria; Amato, Mariana University of Basilicata, Italy stella.lovelli@unibas.it Climate change has a strong impact on both the geographical distribution and the incidence of weed infestation. In the Mediterranean area, drought conditions and warmer temperatures will alter the competitive balance between crops and some weed species. So far, there are few data about eco-physiological aspects of weeds such as pigweed and thistle in Mediterranean area, which are becoming very aggressive in semiarid environments. The objective of this study was to analyze effects of water stress on eco-physiological aspects of pigweed (Amaranthus retrolexus L.) and thistle (Cirsium arvense L.) at ield level by measuring the photosynthetic capacity, growth and leaf water potential of pigweed and thistle in a Mediterranean area. Pigweed and thistle were studied within a naturally occurring weed population in a bell pepper ield, where a rainfed treatment was compared to a fully irrigated. Soil water content, net assimilation rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (T) were determined on pigweed and thistle leaves. In drought conditions there was no difference in terms of midday leaf water potential between pigweed and thistle, but gas exchange parameters and water use eficiency were different, obviously for different photosynthetic pathway, but also for different water use strategy. In Mediterranean irrigated ields weeds in mixed stands compete with crops, faster growing C4 weeds as pigweed prevail on slower-growing C3 species, both weeds and crops. Even if competition between weeds and crops is greater with increasing water, in relative terms there is greater relative competition with limited water resources. Keywords climate change, drought, weeds ecophysiology 30 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Allelopathic potential of some invasive woody plant species occuring in Hungary Csiszár, Ágnes; Korda, Márton; Schmidt, Dávid; Šporčić, Dean; Teleki, Balázs; Tiborcz, Viktor; Zagyvai, Gergely; Bartha, Dénes University of West Hungary, Faculty of Forestry, Hungary keresztlapu@emk.nyme.hu Allelopathy may play an important role in the invasion success of adventive plant species. The aim of this study was to determine the allelopathic potential of most invasive woody plant species occurring in Hungary. Juglone index of fourteen invasive woody plant species in Hungary was determined by the method of SZABÓ (1999), comparing the effects of juglone and substance extracted of plant species with unknown allelopathic potential on the germination rate, shoot length and rooth length of white mustard (Sinapis alba L.). Results have proven a more or less expressed allelopathic potential in case of all species. The juglone index at higher concentration extracts (5 g dry plant material extracted with 100 ml distilled water) of almost every studied species approaches to 1 or is above 1, this means the effect of the extracts is similar to juglone or surpasses it. In terms of juglone index, the allelopathic potential of false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa L.), tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima [Mill.] Swingle) and hackberry (Celtis occidentalis L.) were the highest. Besides these species the treatment with the extracts of black walnut (Juglans nigra L.), black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh. var. subintegerrima [Vahl] Fern.) reduced extremely signiicantly the germination rate, shoot and root length, compared to the control. In vitro researches are suitable for determining the allelopathic potential, but allelopathy should be proven under ield conditions too, that is why we are going to investigate the allelopathic effect of above-mentioned invasive species on oak seedlings in seed-orchard. Keywords invasive species, allelopathy, juglone index, germination inhibition, growth inhibition 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 31 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Phytotoxicity of Nicotiana glauca Graham aqueous extracts, a Tunisian invasive plant Rinez, Asma (1); Ladhari, Afef (1); Omezzine, Faten (1); Rinez, Imen (2); Haouala, Rabiaa (3) 1: Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Tunisia 2: Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Monastir 3: Higher Agronomic Institute of Chott-Mariem asma.rinez@yahoo.fr Phytotoxicity of aqueous extracts of a Tunisian invasive plant (Nicotiana glauca Graham), was evaluated on seed germination and seedling growth of two crops (Lactuca sativa L. [lettuce] and Raphanus sativus L. [radish]) and two weeds (Peganum harmala L. [Peganum] and Cynara cardunculus L. [cardoon]). Target species were grown on Petri dish supplemented with 5 ml of aqueous extract prepared at 10, 20, 30 and 40g/l, extracted from leaves, lowers, stems, roots and fruit of N. glauca. Aqueous extracts of stems, roots and fruit had no effect on seed germination of tested crops at all concentrations, but they decreased the seed germination of target weeds. Percentage inhibition varied between 37 and 100%. Leaves and lowers extract, inhibited seed germination and seedling growth of all target species. The inhibition was proportional to aqueous extract concentrations. Root length inhibition was more obvious than shoot length. Signiicant inhibition of root length at almost all concentrations in all the bioassay species showed that root length is a more sensitive indicator of phytotoxic activity. The percentage of reduction in germination and seedling length was signiicantly higher in weed plants compared to crops. The degree of phytotoxicity of different N. glauca parts is ranked in the following order of inhibition: leaves = lowers > fruit > stems > roots. Keywords Phytotoxicity, invasive plant, N. glauca, aqueous extracts, crops, weeds, inhibition 32 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Causes and impacts of plant invasions Abstracts Session 1 Phytotoxicity of Thymelaea hirsuta L. Ladhari, Afef (1); Omezzine, Faten (1); Rinez, Asma (1); Haouala, Rabiaa (2) 1: Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Tunisia(UR03AGR04) 2: Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott Meriem, University of Sousse, Chott Meriem , Tunisia. (UR03AGR04) ladhariafef@yahoo.fr Invasive plants are a widespread problem but the mechanisms used by these plants to become invasive are often unknown. Production of phytotoxic natural products by invasive weeds is one mechanism by which these species may become successful competitors. This study reports the phytotoxic potential of Thymelaea hirsuta L. through incorporating leaves, lowers, shoots and roots biomass into soil (12.5, 25, 50 g/Kg) and irrigation by their aqueous extracts (50g/L), on the growth of two crops (Lactuca sativa L. and Raphanus sativus L.) and two weeds (Peaganum harmala L. and Scolymus maculatus L.). Results revealed a perceptible phytotoxic effect which increased with dose and concentration. At the highest dose, leaves residues was most toxic and caused total inhibition of lettuce seedlings growth. Flowers and shoots residues exhibited an average inhibition of 94% and 84% for, respectively, roots and shoots length of target species. Irrigation with aqueous extracts of T. hirsuta different organs decreased also seedlings length of all test species. Aqueous extract of leaves was the most inhibiting of roots growth, it induced a signiicant average reduction of 70%, while a slight reduction was varied between 9% and 52% for shoots growth. Results of the present study suggest that different organs of T. hirsuta L. would be rich in natural bioactive substances that could be exploited in the management of agro-ecosystems, as an alternative to industrial inputs. Keywords T. hirsuta, phytoxicity, seedling growth 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 33 Abstracts Session 1 Causes and impacts of plant invasions From plant traits to invasion success in Fallopia japonica Houtt Mincheva, Tsvetana Todorova Dept Plant Biology, Torino Italy, Italy tsvetana.mincheva@unito.it Invasive plant species can cause radical changes in native plant communities and the functioning of ecosystems; they can lead to homogenization of biota and species extinctions. However, it is dificult to predict the effects of invaders on ecosystems, since these vary according to the traits of the invading species, and the properties of the invaded vegetation and habitat. A number of studies clearly demonstrate the negative effect of F. japonica (an E-Asian invasive perennial herbaceous plant) on biodiversity, i.e. native lora, invertebrate assemblages, on topsoil mineral nutrient concentrations, and on economy. This species is recognized as a highly invasive noxious weed in its invaded area and is included in the List of the 100 world’s worst invasive alien species. The aims of the study were to deine relevant functional traits of F. japonica in its introduced range, and to investigate the effects of the species on native plant species richness and diversity. The research was conducted in Piedmont region, Italy, in 2010 and 2011. Mechanisms by which the invasive plant is able to alter ecosystem properties and processes were studied through analysis of some functional traits within the native plant community compared to the traits of the invader. A high relative growth rate, speciic leaf area, biomass production, quality of litter and decomposition rate were found to be associated to the species’ invasion success. Keywords invasion success, Fallopia japonica 34 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders: biology, ecology, what can we learn from each other? Oral presentations Keynote The ‘weedy’ traits of invasive alien plants van Kleunen, Mark University of Konstanz, Germany vankleunen.mark@googlemail.com In 1965, the American plant ecologist Herbert Baker compiled a list of the characteristics of an ideal weed. This list included traits such as fast and profuse germination, rapid growth, selfcompatibility and a high environmental tolerance. Although this list of traits was developed for weeds, it has frequently been suggested that the same traits should also characterize the ideal invasive alien plant, particularly because many of them are considered to be weeds. Despite the long time since the publication of Baker’s list, empirical multi-species studies testing the importance of species traits for invasiveness of alien plants have only started to accumulate in recent years. In this presentation, I will give an overview of the results from such large multispecies studies done by my co-workers and myself. Overall, these studies show that many of the traits of an ideal weed, such as fast and profuse germination, rapid growth, self-compatibility and high environmental tolerance, also characterize many invasive alien species. This implies that prevention and management measures should focus on alien species with such ´weedy´ traits. Keywords weed, invasive plant, environment 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 35 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Linking species traits of alien plants with environmental characteristics of agricultural habitats Jauni, Miia (1); Hyvönen, Terho (2) 1: University of Helsinki, Finland 2: MTT Agrifood Research Finland miia.jauni@helsinki.i The survival and success of alien plant species is determined by species traits (i.e. invasiveness) and the characteristics of the habitats in the region of introduction (i.e. invasibility). Species traits are known to vary according to the habitat characteristics. However, empirical studies of the species traits in plant invasion success have largely ignored the environmental conditions of the habitats. We quantiied the invasion level of neophyte alien plant species in ive agricultural habitats in Finland and identiied the environmental factors affecting the occurrence of alien species. In addition, we assessed the interaction of environmental factors and life-history traits for alien plant species using RLQ analysis combined with K-means clustering method. We found that temperature, geographical location and disturbance regime of the habitats contributed to the occurrence of alien plant species in agricultural habitats. Of the species traits, strategy type, invasion history (natural distribution area, pathway of introduction, date of irst observation), traits related to dispersal (dispersal type, seed mass) and habitat preferences moisture, nitrogen and soil acidity were most consistently associated with alien plant species. These species traits were signiicantly associated with the environmental variables. All clusters were phylogenetically independent. Thus, the clusters of alien species comprised species of diverse taxonomic afinities, although they shared the traits explaining their occurrence in particular habitats. This information is useful for understanding the link between species traits and the environmental conditions of the habitats, and complexity of the invasion process. Keywords Clustering, RLQ analysis, invasions, life-history traits 36 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 The Riddle of Gunnera tinctoria Invasions: a Particularly Irish Enigma Osborne, Bruce; Fennell, Mark; Armstrong, Cristina UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belield, Dublin 4, Ireland Bruce.Osborne@ucd.ie Gunnera tinctoria invasions represent an often identiied enigma: why should a species with a narrow ecological amplitude have the capacity to become such a signiicant invader? In Ireland, for instance, it is now recognised as one of the top thirteen invasive species. Consideration of its ecophysiology indicates that it should never be able colonize areas with even mild water deicits, although the impact of other important environmental factors is unclear. Habitat-mapping of G. tinctoria in the West of Ireland indicates a preference for anthropogenic habitats. Rather surprisingly, colonization of organic soils, the dominant soil type in this region, is poor. Analysis of G. tinctoria populations indicate that invasive populations are genetically distinct and that gene low may be an important factor contributing to invasive success. Stochastic evolutionary processes alone can explain the observed genetic variation, with no need for adaptive evolution. Genetic analysis, in conjunction with computer-based modelling, indicates that seed dispersal is the primary method for long-distance propagule dispersal, despite the initial belief that this species propagates solely asexually. Few seeds germinate, although they remain viable, with germination constrained by low soil temperatures. Projections of the impact of climate change on the future success of this species indicates that its distribution is likely to increase by the end of the century, with habitat-type playing the more signiicant role. Overall, these results indicate how little we know about what contributes to successful invasions and the signiicance of complex relationships among plant traits, habitat and climate. Keywords Gunnera tinctoria, water deicits, genetics, habitat factors 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 37 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Morphological and molecular identiication of invasive and autochthonous Vitis taxa along Hungary Bodor, Péter (1); Deák, Tamás (1); Höhn, Mária (2); Bisztray, György Dénes (1) 1: Corvinus Universtiy of Budapest, Institute of Viticulture and Oenology, Hungary 2: Corvinus Universtiy of Budapest,Faculty of Horticultural Sciences, Department of Botany bodor.peter@uni-corvinus.hu North-American Vitis taxa especially Vitis riparia Michx. (riverbank grape) have been used as grapevine rootstock since the end of the XIXth. century, when phylloxera (Viteus vitifolii Fitch.) spread and destroyed in the European vineyards. Riverbank grape is tolerant against the phylloxera, and the two most dangerous pathogens: powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) and downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) which endanger the autochthonous, protected grape taxon: Vitis sylvestris C.C. Gmel.. Because of these advantageous characters and the invasive being of V. riparia Michx. this plant spread from the abandoned vine plantations to the vegetation and displace the natural wildgrape populations in it‘s natural habitat. The hybrids of Vitis sylvestris C.C. Gmel. × Vitis riparia Michx. inherit the invasive growing and the main morphological and physiological characters of the riverbank grape. These invasive plants are dificult to different from the native wildgrape. In order to protect the Vitis sylvestris C.C. Gmel. it‘s morphological and molecular identiication is absolutely necessary. In this work 20 morphological patterns and and 8 variable SSR markers have been used for the characterization of the natural Vitis taxa in the Hungarian habitat. Data evaluations of morphological and molecular investigations were made with NMDS (Non-metric multidimensional scaling) analysis. In case of the morphological method, the erected hairs on the lower side of the leafs and on the petiole proved to separate the different species. The molecular SSR method is also effective to differentiate between the invasive taxon and the native wild grape populations. Keywords wild grape, ampelometry, microsatellite, NMDS 38 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Biogeography of the invasive grass Bromus tectorum in its native range: stochastic range expansion inluences genetic diversity and genetic structure Novak, Stephen John (1); Roalson, Eric (2); Mack, Richard (2) 1: Boise State University, United States of America 2: Washington State University, United State of America snovak@boisestate.edu The amount and distribution of genetic diversity of invasive species in their native range is inluenced by the biogeographic and evolutionary history of these species. For invasive species of European origin, Pleistocene glaciation likely represents the most important biogeographic events shaping genetic diversity. The genetic consequences of Pleistocene glaciation can be described by two alternative scenarios: the expansion/contraction (E/C) hypothesis, and the genetic admixture hypothesis. We examined the predictions of these two hypotheses by assessing the microsatellite DNA diversity of 41 native European populations of the invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum L. Populations from southern Europe (Spain and Italy) possess, on average, more genetic diversity (A = 1.26 and %P = 26.0) compared with population from either central (A = 1.10 and %P = 8.6) or northern (A = 1.06 and %P = 5.9) Europe. These indings are in general agreement with the E/C hypothesis and suggest that, at the population level, B. tectorum experienced a reduction in genetic diversity as the species’ post-glacial range expanded from Mediterranean refugia. At the population level, our data does not support the genetic admixture hypothesis. However, populations from across northern Europe possess greater allelic richness compared with populations from southern Europe. This result suggests that populations of B. tectorum from northern Europe exhibit genetic admixture; however this admixture is manifested at the regional level, and not at the population level. Additionally, the genetic diversity of European populations of B. tectorum exhibits high genetic structure; this diversity however is not geographically structured (i.e., no isolation by distance pattern was observed). The genetic diversity of B. tectorum in its native range appears to be the product of stochastic range expansion during the post-glacial time period, and more recently as agricultural development took place in central and northern Europe. Keywords Genetic diversity and structure, native range populations, expansion/contraction hypothesis, genetic admixture 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 39 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Growth, reproduction and plant damage of Cirsium arvense in its native and invasive range Abela Hofbauerová, Inés (1); Münzbergová, Zuzana (2) 1: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic 2: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic abela_h1@natur.cuni.cz Observational studies in Cirsium arvense were done in Czech Republic (Europe) and Nebraska (USA), native and invasive ranges, between 2005 and 2007, to test whether plants grow more in the invasive range and suffer less damage than plants from populations in the native range, as the Enemy Release Hypothesis states. To have more accurate results we afterwards experimentally tested for direct and indirect effects of non-overlapping herbivore insects on plant growth and reproduction. We compared this effect between plants from the native (Spain and the Czech Republic, Europe) and invasive range (Nebraska and Illinois, North America). In a common garden experiment, herbivore insects were added alone and in combinations to C. arvense which were planted in the Czech Republic in March 2008 and grew from seeds for two growing seasons. One underground insect (Cleonis pigra) and 3 aboveground insect species were used (Cassida rubiginosa, Rhinocyllus conicus, Urophora cardui). Results from observational studies indicate that in its native range, C. arvense experiences more plant damages and grows less than in the invasive range. Results from the experimental study also show that plants from the invasive range grew more than the ones from the native range. Plants to which herbivores were not added were bigger than plants to which herbivores were added, showing a negative effect of insects on plant growth. The effect of combined insect was bigger than the single additions, suggesting a combination of more insects would maybe a better solution for in biological control of C. arvense. Keywords Cirsium arvense, herbivore insects, native and invasive range, weed control, plant growth 40 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Differences in population dynamics between native and invasive Centaurea stoebe: the role of life cycles and the impact of specialist herbivores Hahn, Min (1); Buckley, Yvonne (2,3); Müller-Schärer, Heinz (1) 1: University of Fribourg, Switzerland 2: University of Queensland, Australia; 3: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia min.hahn@unifr.ch Introduced organisms may experience major changes in their new environments, which could favour pre-adapted genotypes and/or promote rapid evolution. For plants, the release from natural enemies in a new range might cause changes in plant defence and life history with consequences for plant-antagonist interactions and biological control. In Centaurea stoebe L. (Asteracae) two cytotypes occur in the native range in Europe differing in life cycles: monocarpic, biennial diploids (EU2x) and polycarpic, perennial tetraploids (EU4x). Drivers for the evolution of this variation in life cycles might be root-feeding insect herbivores selecting for monocarpy. However, in absence of herbivores polycarpy might be advantageous which could explain the observed shift in cytotype distribution towards exclusively tetraploids (NA4x) in the introduced range in North America. In a 3-year common garden experiment we studied the population dynamics of the three geo-cytotypes (EU2x, EU4x, NA4x) in absence and presence of the specialist root-feeding moth Agapeta zoegana, which has been introduced as a biocontrol agent 25 years ago. Preliminary results revealed only a small increase of population growth in polycarpic EU4x compared to monocarpic EU2x in absence of herbivores, in contrast to a pronounced increase in NA4x compared to EU4x. This provides strong evidence for rapid evolutionary change promoting the success of NA4x, while polycarpy itself playing a minor role. Unexpectedly, in presence of herbivores population growth increased in native cytotypes, but decreased in NA4x. This differential effect might indicate changes in plant defence between native and invasive cytotypes, which may result in increased biocontrol eficacy. Keywords demography, life history, herbivores, biological control, rapid evolution 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 41 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders: biology, ecology, what can we learn from each other? Posters 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 43 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Distribution of Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) Weed in Peshawar Valley, KPK-Pakistan Khan, Haroon (1); Hassan, Gul (2); Khan, Muhammad Azim (2) 1: School of Agricultural and Food Sciences University of Queensland Brisbane, QLD- Australia.; 2: Department of Weed Science, KPK Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan yousafzaihk@yahoo.com Parthenium weed was probably introduced in Pakistan in 1980s through India where it was reported much earlier. It is a recent introduction in Islamabad and it is becoming a major weed of cropped and non-cropped areas of KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. Field survey of four districts of the Peshawar valley, KPK viz. Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda and Peshawar were carried out during May–June, 2009–2010 to study the distribution and invasion of Parthenium weed. The mean data across the surveyed districts revealed that the lora was predominated by Parthenium weed with the highest relative density of 42.68% among all species. It was followed by Cannabis sativa, Cynodon dactylon and Cyperus rotundus, with relative densities of 15.17, 13.49 and 5.96 respectively. At different locations it was observed that Parthenium weed was competing with Cannabis sativa which is not so aggressive and problematic weed. While in some areas they have already replaced Cannabis sativa. Rumex crispus and Xanthium strumarium infatuated the smallest relative frequency at most of the locations studied thereby indicating them as insigniicant among the weed lora of the study area. Importance value data revealed that Parthenium hysterophorus, Cannabis sativa, Cynodon dactylon and Coronopus didymus having IV% of 34.41, 16.30 13.42 and 7.14, respectively. Looking at the overall distribution of lora in Peshawar valley Parthenium weed is spreading rapidly along the roadsides, into agricultural ields and on wastelands. The dominance of Parthenium can be attributed to its allelopathic properties, its higher growth rate, its rapid lowering and its higher fecundity. Keywords Invasive weed, P. hysterophorus, weed communities, Peshawar valley, KPK 44 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Genetic variation and population structure of invasive plant species Erigeron annuus in Lithuania Zvingila, Donatas; Patamsyt, Jolanta; Cesniene, Tatjana; Kleizaite, Violeta; Naugzemys, Donatas; Rancelis, Vytautas University of Vilnius, Lithuania donatas.zvingila@gf.vu.lt The aim of this study – to assess the level of genetic diversity of exotic herbaceous plant species Erigeron annuus in Lithuania. E. annuus is widely spread in south and southeastern part of the country. The global climate changes and changes in agricultural practice in the past few decades were favorable for the spreading of this exotic plant species. We used RAPD and ISSR techniques to provide estimates of the comparative genetic variation within and among populations of E. annuus. After initial screening, reliable RAPD and ISSR markers were developed. Using these markers, the percentage of polymorphic loci, Nei’s gene diversity, Shannon’s information index and gene differentiation coeficient were established in 25 populations of this invasive weed. Analysis of DNA markers conducted using AMOVA showed high genetic differentiation among populations. Breeding system had a very strong impact on the level of genetic variability. Identical RAPD phenotypes were established among plants of different populations of this apomyctic species. Signiicant differences in DNA polymorphism among populations of E. annuus were also found. Some populations of this species are composed of genetically identical plants, while others were rather polymorphic. Similar patterns of genetic variation were found using both types of DNA markers but UPGMA cluster analysis showed a slightly different grouping of genotypes. Keywords Erigeron annuus, molecular markers, invasive plant species, population genetic structure 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 45 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Effect of wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis) density on some agronomic traits of canola (Brassica napus) cultivars Safahani, Ali reza Islamic Azad University Ghaemshar branch, Iran safahani.ali@gmail.com In order to study effect of wild mustard interferences in some canola cultivars two ield experiments were carried out at the Gorgan Institute in Iran during the 2005–2007 cropping seasons. The experimental factors were canola cultivars (1st year: Zarfam, Option500, Hayola330, Hayola401, Talayh, Rgs003 and Sarigol; 2nd year: Zarfam, Hayola330, Rgs003 and Option500) and weed density (1st year: control and 30 plants m-2; 2nd year: control, 4, 8 and 16 plants m-2). seed yield, harvest index, number of siliques/plant, number of seed/silique, 1000-seed weight, seed oil percentage and nitrogen harvest index were measured. Results showed signiicant differences in seed yield between cultivars. Results also indicated signiicant differences in yield components and weed-infesteded conditions, but interference had no drastic effect on seed oil percentage and 1000-seed weight. In irst year and under weed-free condition, the highest and lowest seed yield with averages of 2836 and 1729 kg/ha belonged to Cultivars Hayola330 and Talayh, respectively. But under weed infested condition, Cultivars Hayola330 and Option500 produced the highest and lowest seed yield with averages of 870 and 101 kg/ha, respectively. In second year and under weed-infested conditions, the lowest and highest yield loss percentage with averages of 42 and 88% belonged to cultivars Zarfam and Option500, respectively. Increasing wild mustard density decreased canola seed yield, biological yield with a nonlinear trend. The results of this study suggest that competitive canola cultivars may be best suited for use in an integrated weed management program, particularly for farmers of organic or low input cropping systems. Keywords Canola, Wild mustard, Yield, Weed density, Oil percentage, Yield components 46 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Germination ecology of Rhynchosia capitata (Roth) DC: An alien invasive summer season weed. Ali, Haiz Haider; Tanveer, Asif; Nadeem, Muhammad Ather; Asgher, Haiz Naeem University o Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan haider3993@gmail.com Experiments were conducted to study the seed germination patterns of Rhynchosia capitata (Roth) DC, an emerging weed in Pakistan. We investigated whether the diverse ecological factors such as temperature, salinity, drought stress, pH, soil depth and darkness affect the germination of R. capitata. Germination decreased as the temperature increased from 25 °C and completely inhibited at 45 °C. Presence or absence of light did not inluence germination. Germination of R. capitata was sensitive to increasing salt and drought stress as well as seed burial depth. Only 47.50% of seeds germinated at a NaCl concentration of 150 mM as compared to 100% in 0 mM of NaCl concentration. Similarly, 15% of the seeds germinated at drought stress level of –0.8 Mpa as compared to 87.5% at –0.2 Mpa level. In seed burial depth trials, maximum seedling emergence 92.50 % was at 2cm depth. The optimal pH for seed germination of R. capitata was 7 (97.5 %), but the seeds also germinated at lower level of pH 5 (85%) and at higher level of pH 10 (75 %). The high germination ability of R. capitata under a wide range of treatments suggests that this species is likely to be the most problematic in near future if not managed appropriately. Keywords drought stress, salinity, seedling, emergence, burial depth 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 47 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Growing potential of the non native invasive weed Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi, in South Switzerland – a methodic approach Bertossa, Mario; Morisoli, Romina Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, Switzerland romina.morisoli@acw.admin.ch Pueraria lobata (Kudzu) occurs in the canton Ticino territory since more than a decade. In 2006 approximately 24 outbreaks have been observed. These locations are not monitored by authorities despite the plant’s presence in the black list of invasive species of the Swiss Commission for Wild Plant Conservation CPS/SKEW which determines that establishment and spread should be prevented. In 2010 a ield trial has started to determine the growing potential of Kudzu under ield conditions in the Magadino Plain, which is the most representative cropping area of Ticino. Twelve plants comparable in age and size, formerly produced from offshoots of mother plants which were collected in an infested area in Ticino. After a quality evaluation shoots were planted in large pots which were buried in the soil to avoid local outbreak. A water control system has been installed to put the plants under standard growing conditions. Several parameters were measured. Overwintering rate, growing of leaves, stems and roots, number of leaves, lowers and stems, length of the stems and leaf area index LAI. An oficial Swissmeteo station nearby the trial location recorded most of the important plant growing factors of climate and soil. This method allowed to start with quite homogeneous plant material with a 100% surviving rate. Growing parameters were assessed and showed important evolutions after a short stagnating period. The most important growing data was observed in length growing of the stems and number of developed leaves. Keywords Invasive weed, Pueraria lobata, Ticino, Growing Potential 48 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) cultivars and Abutilon theophrasti canopy proiles Zaefarian, Faezeh (1); Rezvani, Mohammad (2); Jovieni, Mojtaba (3) 1: Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Iran 2: Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr Branch, Iran 3: Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr Branch, Iran fa_zaefarian@yahoo.com A ield study was undertaken to examine proile of leaf area and dry matter of soybean cultivars and weeds. The experimental design was a randomized complete block using a splitplot arrangement with three replications. Main plots were weedy and weed free, and subplots were six soybean cultivars. At soybean canopy closure stage, sampling of leaf area and dry matter proile of cultivars and weeds was carried out. Interference with weeds caused different cultivars of soybean shift the maximum layer of leaf area and dry matter to the upper layer of canopy. Distribution of leaf area and biomass in weeds canopy was related to its species and the growth form. Abutilon theophrasti increased its height and height of branching, and spread its leaves on the soybean canopy. The hill cultivar in weedy plots produced maximum grain yield. Keywords soybean canopy structure, leaf area, dry matter accumulation, Abutilon theophrasti, yield 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 49 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Potential spread of invasive plant species in Romanian protected areas. Case-studies: Comana Natural Park and Rodna Mountains National Park Dumitrascu, Monica (1); Kucsicsa, Gheorghe (1); Grigorescu, Ines (1); Dragota, Carmen-Soia (1); Nastase, Mihaela (2); Iuşan, Claudiu (3) 1: Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania 2: Protected Areas Department, Romanian Forest Administration, Bucharest 3: “Rodna Mountains” National Park Administration mondy_ghe@yahoo.com Invasive terrestrial plant species (ITPS) represent an important environmental risk to indigenous ecosystems especially when it comes to protected areas. In Romania, the ITPS currently includes more than 400 species (13.87% of the Romanian lora), among which, within the protected areas, some of the most representative are: Ailanthus altissima, Acer negundo, Amorpha fruticosa. The paper is aiming to analyze the key natural driving forces responsible for the spread of the invasive plant species in the Romanian protected areas: relief, lithology, soil, climate, hydrology, vegetation etc. This assessment will focus on two relevant case-studies: Comana Natural Park, V IUCN category speciic for the plain region (Romanian Plain, southern Romania) and Rodna Mountains National Park, II IUCN category (biosphere reserve since 2001) particular for the mountain region (Eastern Romanian Carpathians). Both are Natura 2000 sites (SPA and SCI). Taking into consideration their ecological signiicance, the authors intend to make a complex assessment of the ITPS which is affecting the ecological balance of these protected areas. Firstly, a GIS-based inventory and the distribution maps of the ITPS for both protected areas will be created. Based on each specie ecological requirements one could draw up the conceptual model of assessing the key natural driving forces for the ITPS in order to identify their introduction pathways and ultimately, their expansion potential. Based on this assessment, the authors seek to identify the impact ITPS have upon the natural habitat of some rare species, especially when talking about protected areas of high conservation value. Keywords expansion potential, Invasive Plant Species (IPS), Romanian protected areas, Comana Natural Park, Rodna Mountains National Park 50 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Management of Invasive Species in Assam, India with Special Reference to Manas Biosphere Reserve Bezbarua, Pranjal (1); Bezbarua, Arundhati (1); Bhagobaty, Niranjan (2); Baruah, Chandrakanta (1) 1: GAUHATI UNIVERSITY, India 2: Institute of Advanced Study in Science & Technology, Guwahati, India pbezbarua@yahoo.co.in The grassland in protected areas of Assam, known as key habitats of several globally endangered species like Indian Rhinoceros, Asian elephant, Royal Bengal tiger declined drastically due to phytoinvasion of several unwanted species. A model study was carried out in Manas Biosphere Reserve to focus the problem of phytoinvasion in grassland and designing practical management recommendation. Grassland model designed by multivariate analysis indicated presence of major invading species like Leea asiatica (L.) Ridsdale and Bombax ceiba L. besides Chromolaena odorata (L.) King, Plectranthus ternifolius D.Don. in selected area. Continued anthropogenic disturbances resulted increase of weeds. The management of invading species through different low cost strategies like mapping of weeds, control burning, protection to degraded grassland, early burning to escape seed dispersal of Bombax ceiba, grazing of Asian elephant for biological control of Leea and Bombax, biomass sharing of invasive species and grass during ire line creation, late burning treatment in selected sites are signiicant strategy for management of invasive species. The direct involvement of tribal community in conservation campaign has resulted converting hardcore poachers to conservation worker to protect grassland biodiversity, implementation of management recommendation to control invasive species and minimizing cost of park management. Keywords Burning, Biomass sharing, Biological control, Community 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 51 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Exploring the Flora on Inert Landill Sites in Southern Ticino (Switzerland) Bellosi, Bruno (1); Selldorf, Paolo (2); Schoenenberger, Nicola (3) 1: Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Facoltà di Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche e Naturali, Como, Italy 2: Azienda cantonale dei riiuti, Giubiasco, Switzerland 3: Museo cantonale di storia naturale, Lugano, Switzerland nicola.schoenenberger@ti.ch Results of a loristic survey conducted in eight deposits of inert materials and landill sites in southern Canton Ticino are presented. 512 taxa belonging to 297 genera and 85 families were recorded during 2009. An overall amount of 83 (16.2% of total) neophyte taxa were identiied on the studied sites, among which several taxa not recorded in the Swiss loras. Species richness and composition demonstrate the role of inert landill sites as privileged sites of early arrival for adventive taxa new to the Swiss lora, as sites of proliferation and starting points for further spread of invasive alien plants and as substitution habitats for threatened and rare native plants. Underlying mechanisms and conditions explaining species composition and the distribution of some noteworthy taxa are discussed. Results are compared with loristic surveys of railway areas in the same region. Keywords Flora, loristics, biodiversity, adventive, neophytes, invasive, landill site, Ticino 52 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Studies of genetic diversity of an invasive species Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl. in Lithuania Vyšniauskiené, Regina (1); Rančelienė, Vida (1); Žvingila, Donatas (2); Patamsytė, Jolanta (2) 1: Nature Research Centre, Lithuania 2: Vilnius University, Lithuania regina.vysniauskiene@botanika.lt Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl. (Fabaceae) is one of the noxious alien species that alters the species composition of natural plant communities. In Lithuania this species was for the irst time recorded in 1931. Presently it is spread in many places near the roadsides and wood outskirts, near major highways and in former grazing areas. Its spread in Lithuania was stimulated by the fact that it had been sown in forests as food for wild animals and as a precautionary measure against the spread of forest ires. It is noted that recently the species aggressively expanses from the outskirts of coniferous forests and roadsides into open, abandoned and uncultivated ields. This poses a potential threat to natural plant communities, biodiversity and the Lithuanian landscapes. Genetic diversity of lupine populations of forests and forest outskirts has been studied using the RAPD method; intraspeciic and intrapopulational genetic diversity were deined. Polymorphism was detected with six primers. The UPGMA dendrogram revealed that all plants are genetically different, but individuals of each population group together. AMOVA showed signiicant genetic differentiation of the investigated L. polyphyllus populations. Principal coordinate analysis also showed grouping of individuals of the same population. The genetic distance between forest populations of lupine was lower than of the forest and ield populations. Our research on Lupinus polyphyllus diversity in Lithuania revealed genetic peculiarities of lupine populations; probably, this could be due to adaptation strategies of this species and their local adaptation. Although L. polyphyllus becomes one of the most aggressive invasive plant species, but this is only the irst study on genetic diversity of this species in Lithuania. Keywords Lupinus polyphyllus, genetic diversity, RAPD 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 53 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders A study on biology and phytosociology of the invasive plant: Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal. (Asteraceae) in Romania Sîrbu, Culiţă (1); Oprea, Adrian (2); Truţă, Elena (2); Vochiţa, Gabriela (2) 1: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine I.I. de la Brad Iasi, Romania 2: Biological Research Institution of Iaşi, Romania culita69@yahoo.com Grindelia squarrosa, originating in North America, has been reported as naturalized in Eastern Europe, since the middle of last century. In Romania, presumably it has been unintentionally introduced from the former USSR, with goods or passenger trains. Nowadays, it is spread in the Eastern Romania, in surroundings of two large cities (Iaşi and Galaţi), placed at ca 250 km away from each other. Into these areas, G. squarrosa is in a continuous increasing of the populations size, from few dozens of square meters (14 years ago) to several thousand of square meters (today). The density of populations, their age structure, and spatial distribution were estimated in ield plots. G. squarrosa showed a high reproductive capacity, up to 76,000 achenes / individual / year. It is known that disc and ray achenes are morphologically distinct in this species, and they differ in germination rate. Our results conirm this germination polymorphism. G. squarrosa is a biennial species, diploid or tetraploid. In Romania, it has a pioneer status into the open, highly degraded, ± dry habitats, along the roads and railways, on the embankments, and other ruderal places, invading ruderal plant communities, especially from the Dauco-Melilotion alliance. Analysis of the invaded habitats revealed that G. squarrosa is a heliophilous, thermophilous and xerophilous plant species. Although currently the invasion of this species into agricultural crops or native plant communities has not been proven in Romania, this trend is not excluded in the future, given its behaviour in the neighbouring countries. Keywords Grindelia squarrosa, invasive alien plant, Romania 54 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Accumulation of heavy metals in Fallopia japonica (Houtt.) Ronse Decraene. Soltysiak, Justyna; Brej, Teresa Wroclaw University of Life Sciences, Poland justyna.soltysiak@up.wroc.pl The expansion of Japanese Knotweed into polluted areas animates the interest of its resistance to heavy metals. To investigate Fallopia japonica response to Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb a greenhouse experiment was carried out. Plant material was collected from polluted sites of Wroclaw city Rhizomes were planted into pots with soils polluted by four different doses of each metal. During the study it was observed dynamic of growth and noted symptoms suggesting toxic effect of metals on Fallopia japonica. It was also measured concentrations of heavy metals in plant material. Rhizomes and leaves have been treated separately as different parts of plants cumulating heavy metals. The results of study suggest that Fallopia japonica is resistant to heavy metals. The tolerance to led, chromium and mercury was especially high. Heavy metals were accumulated in rhizomes mainly. It limited their transport into aboveground parts of plants. The outcomes lead to conclusion that a tolerance of Japanese Knotweed to heavy metals can facilitate their expansion into polluted areas. Keywords Fallopia japonica, heavy metals accumulation, heavy metals resistance 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 55 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Prediction spatial distribution patterns of Cardaria draba (L.) using learning vector quantization artiicial neural network (LVQANN) Makarian, Hassan; Rohani, Abbas Shahrood university, Iran h.makarian@yahoo.com Recent advances in precision farming technologies have triggered the need for highly lexible modelling methods to estimate, classiicate and map weed population patterns for using in site-speciic weed management. In this research, a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) model was developed to predict and classify the spatial distribution of Cardaria draba (L.) density. This method was evaluated on data of C. draba (L.) density in a wheat ield located in Boshrooyeh, Southern Khorasan, Iran, in 2010. Some statistical tests, such as comparisions of the means, variance, statistical distribution were used between the observed point sample data and the estimated weed density surfaces to evaluate the performance of the pattern recognition method. Results showed that in training LVQNN, test and total phase P-value was greater than 0.9, indicating that there was no signiicant difference between statsitcal parameters such as average, variance, statistical distribution in the observed and the estimated weed density. This results suggest that LVQNN can learn weed density model very well. In addition, results indicated that trained LVQNN has a high capability in predicting weed density with recognition accuracy of 100 percent at unsampled points. The technique showed that the LVQNN could classify and map C. draba (L.) spatial variability on the ield. Our map showed that patchy weed distribution offers large potential for using site-speciic weed control on this ield. Keywords Classiication, Map, Learning vector quantization, Neural network, Patchy distribution 56 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Genetic characteristics of populations of Impatiens glandulifera growing in some Baltic areas Zybartaite, Lina; Jodinskiene, Milda; Zukauskiene, Judita; Paulauskas, Algimantas; Kupcinskiene, Eugenija Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania e.kupcinskiene@gmail.com In Western Europe naturalisation of Impatiens glandulifera took place since 19th century, while in Northern Europe this species has spread later. In Lithuania, for the irst I. glandulifera was recorded in 1959, while presently it is distributed through all the country. No accounts exists for evidence of local differentiation concerning I. glandulifera in the Baltic region. The objective of this study was to evaluate genetic variability of Lithuanian populations of I. glandulifera. In this country ditches, backyards, abandoned estates or landills are the most common surroundings for I. glandulifera while wet natural habitats such as riverbanks or lakesides are less frequent localities. Urtica dioica, Phragmites australis are the most common neighbours of this species. The biggest amount of populations was registered round the irst record place in Jieznas. Nineteen populations of I. glandulifera were characterised by the random ampliied polymorphic DNA method using 250 and OPA-20 primers. For separate population the percentage of polymorphic loci ranged in the interval 15–78 and the number of polymorphic loci respectively was 8–43. Pair-wise genetic distance among individuals in these populations ranged from 0.104 to 0.481. Geography of the populations did not have more exact relection in RAPD based principal component analyses also UPGMA dendrograms. Presumably two different ways of invasion of I. glandulifera took part: natural run and predisposing it dispersal by human. Changes in genetic structure might occur during and after the course of an invasion of populations: according to our study expressed differences in genetic structure were determined for Lithuanian populations of I. glandulifera. Keywords Balsaminaceae, genetic polymorphism, neophytes 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 57 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Interrelations between genetic variability and geographical distribution of Lithuanian Impatiens parviflora Jankauskaite, Rasa; Zukauskiene, Judita; Jodinskiene, Milda; Paulauskas, Algimantas; Kupcinskiene, Eugenija Vytautas Magnus university, Lithuania e.kupcinskiene@gmail.com Suprisingly little information is available about adaptations of invasive species in many countries of north-western Europe. It is supposed that in Lithuania Impatiens parvilora escaped from the Botanical Garden and in 1934 for the irst it was recorded in suburbs of Vilnius. Presently I. parvilora belongs to naturalized species of active distribution. Our study aimed at evaluation of relations between genetic variability and geographical distribution of I. parvilora growing in Lithuania. In Lithuania, I. parvilora occurs abundantly in disturbed by human localities – urban sites, roadsides or farmyards. Permanently overmoistured gleyic forest sites are also common habitats for I. parvilora. Galium aparine, Aegopodium podagraria, Rubus caesius are very frequent neighbours of this species. RAPD as the most ubiquitous and suitable for plant analysis molecular marker was selected for evaluation of genetic diversity of I. parvilora populations. Thirty RAPD primers were tested, usefull appeared to be following ones: OPD-20, OPQ-11, 269, 250, 222, 474, 516, OPB-7, OPA-20. For each population the percentage of polymorphic loci was 21–27 and the number of polymorphic loci ranged in the interval 91–106 while the number of private loci was 12–23. Molecular variance among populations was much higher than within populations. Near the western, southern northen and eastern borders of Lithuania growing populations of I. parvilora were distinct enough according to the RAPD based principal component analyses also UPGMA dendrograms. Pairwise genetic distance among these populations ranged from 0.349 to 0.583. Data obtained show that geographical distribution of invasive species might have relectance in their genetical structure. Keywords Invasion, Balsaminaceae, RAPD, genetic diversity 58 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Euphorbia davidii Subils (Euphorbiaceae), an agricultural emerging invader in France ? Girod, Christophe (1); Fried, Guillaume (2) 1: 16 chemin des châtaigniers 69530 Brignais 2: Anses, France guillaume.fried@anses.fr Euphorbia davidii Subils was irst recorded in a vineyard in the South of France in 1997. It was initially confused with Euphorbia dentata Michx., a closely related species of the subgenus Poinsettia. It remained localized and casual for years but in 2006, a second introduction spot was detected in Burgundy in a wildlife-friendly set-aside (sown with maize). Since then, it has been found in 6 locations in France, presenting a scattered distribution from the South-West to the Center-East of the country. E. davidii occurs in two main kind of habitats: agricultural ields (mostly maize or soybean) and along roadsides and other related ruderal habitats. It has also been recently recorded from several European countries and thus may present a potential for invasiveness. We review the localization, the habitat occupied and the status of the species in Europe, with a special focus on France. In order to facilitate early detection we present its main taxonomic features allowing easy recognition. A rapid risk assessment has been performed which indicate that the species present an intermediate risk requiring further observations. If its potential to become both an environmental weeds is still unclear, it has more probably the potential to become a noxious agricultural weed in summer-sown crops. We therefore stress on the importance of following the spread of this species in France and Europe. We emphasize on the importance of agricultural ields as potential introduction entrances for biological invasion. Keywords Euphorbia davidii, agricultural invader, emerging species, France 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 59 Abstracts Session 2 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Genetic diversity in native and invasive populations of Taeniatherum caputmedusae ssp. asperum (medusahead): evidence for multiple introductions, source populations and founder effects Peters, Morgan (1); Sforza, Rene (2); Novak, Stephen John (1) 1: Boise State University, United States of America 2: USDA-ARS, European Biological Control Laboratory, France snovak@boisestate.edu The native range of Taeniatherum caput-medusae (medusahead) includes much of Eurasia. Medusahead, a primarily self-pollinating annual grass, was introduced into western U.S. in the late 1800s. In the current study we compared allozyme diversity in native and invasive populations of medusahead to: test the multiple introduction hypothesis, identify source populations for the U.S. invasion, and determine the genetic consequences of these events. Five of the seven homozygous multilocus genotypes previously observed in the western U.S. have been detected in native populations; thereby providing support for the multiple introduction hypothesis. Source populations for these introductions appear to have been drawn from France, Sardinia, Greece and Turkey, although additional analyses are ongoing. Across native populations, 17 of 23 loci were polymorphic and a total of 48 alleles were detected, while only ive polymorphic loci and 28 alleles were found among invasive populations. On average, invasive populations possess reduced within-population genetic diversity, compared with those from the native range. While U.S. populations have experienced founder effects, 38% (17 of 45) these populations appear to be genetic admixtures (consisting of two or more native genotypes). Results of this study have implications for the biological control of medusahead: i) the search for effective and speciic biological control agents will have to occur broadly across the species’ native range, ii) multiple agents may be required to control invasive populations that are admixtures, and iii) because invasive population are genetically depauperate, highly adapted biocontrol agents are likely to be quite effective. Keywords medusahead, founder effects, genetic diversity, multiple introductions, source populations 60 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 2 Invasive plants on agricultural ields in Lithuania Auškalniene, Ona (1); Duchovskis, Povilas (2); Lazauskas, Sigitas (1); Pšibišauskienė, Gabrielė (1); Povilaitis, Virmantas (1); Raudonius, Steponas (3); Sakalauskaitė, Jurga (2); Sakalauskienė, Sandra (2) 1: Institute of Agriculture Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Lithuania 2: Institute of Horticulture Lituanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry 3: Lithuanian University of Agriculture ona@lzi.lt The immigration of alien plants takes place under the inluence of human activity. The territory of Lithuania is under intensive anthropogenic inluence. As much as 54% of the territory is agricultural land, large part is under the roads, railways and housing development. Disturbed plant cover cause invasion and existence of alien plants, also global change is known to inluence plant invasion. Not all invasive plant species is of great signiicance in agricultural ields. Expeditionary survey showed that in some regions of Lithuania in winter cereals Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. became important. This weed species irst recorded in Lithuania 1982 at the territory of live – stock farm. In conspectus of alien plant species of Lithuania (1997) got a mention, which A. myosuroides distributed diffusely trough the whole territory of the country and it’s habitats were railways, dumps, fallow land. Absence of crop rotation, minimize of soil tillage intensity caused spread of some new problematic weeds invasive in particular. As new weeds should be noted Brassica napus L. – winter oil seed rape. B. napus is cultivated as oil seed rape, but in absence of crop rotation it spread as volunteer rape in cereal crops and especially unwanted in spring oilseed rape crops trough lack for implements of control. Galinsoga parvilora L., Atriplex hortensis L., Amaranthus retrolexus L. could be mentioned as invasive weeds in vegetable crops. It could be supposed, that with changing of environmental and economical conditions also agricultural practise consequence of invasive weed species takes more signiicance in agricultural crops. Keywords plant invasion, Alopecurus, Galinsoga, Brassica 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 61 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Session 3 How far are control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders? Oral presentations Keynote Control of invasive neophytes: using synergies in Swiss agricultural practice Hochstrasser, Markus Plant Protection Service in the Canton of Zurich, Strickhof, Switzerland markus.hochstrasser@bd.zh.ch All of the 26 Swiss Cantons run their own cantonal plant protection services (PPS). These services refer independently to their cantonal legislation and therefore also to Swiss legislation. The PPS of the Canton Zurich is a neutral ofice for practical questions around the agricultural plant protection. We are advisory service for farmers; we collaborate with rural communes for ire blight (Erwinia amylovora) and Ambrosia artemisiifolia; we teach young people farming and we guarantee continuing education to farmers; we advice farmers on their farm. One important task of the PPS is the control of invasive neophytes on agricultural land. We develop speciic control strategies following the directives of the Swiss confederation. We contribute our practical experiences by participating in several working groups with other cantons or within the federal administration. Furthermore we inluence the development of legislation on cantonal and federal level. Examples: guideline for ire blight control or strategy of Ambrosia control. This year we started a project for control of Cyperus esculentus together with the agricultural advisory services (AGRIDEA) and the research stations Agroscope. This newly formed national working group has established ring trials in three main regions of Switzerland. Interdisciplinary collaboration was the key to success in Ambrosia control. A fruitful collaboration with bird seed grain producers almost stopped the invasion to residential areas where Ambrosia control is made by ire blight controllers. Sometimes we face limits given by the federal legislation. We cannot control Reynoutria japonica along waterways in an eficient way with herbicides. Solidago canadensis is often found on wild lower strips and demand close cooperation between agricultural and nature protection authorities. 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 63 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Spread and control options of the poisonous grassland weed Senecio aquaticus Bassler, Gabriele (12); Karrer, Gerhard (1); Grabmaier, Andrea (1); Kriechbaum, Monika (2) 1: Institute of Botany, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria 2: Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria gabriele.bassler@boku.ac.at In several European countries the toxic Asteraceae Senecio aquaticus causes problems in less fertilised, wet grassland, when fed to animals. The aim of the study is to analyse the biology of this species in regard to control options. Studies of seed bank and monitoring of plants in permanent plots under several management treatments were carried out in the Hercynian region of Lower Austria from 2005 to 2010. After germination in autumn or spring, S. aquaticus forms a rosette. Erect lowering shoots develop at the age of two to seven years between July and August. The majority of lowering plants die after fruit set. Achenes own a pappus facilitating wind dispersal. Based on a WDPI (wind dispersal potential) value of 6, about 10% of the seeds should reach distances of 100 m or more. We found no seeds beyond 25 m distance from mother plants. The seed bank is of persisting type, with buried seeds surviving up to 4 years at minimum. The common cutting regime (irst cut in June when all plants are at rosette stage, and second cut in September after seed set) leads to accelerated population growth of S. aquaticus. In cutting experiments we found that two cuts at the lowering stages (July and August) helps to avoid seed set and further spread. Farmers might be able to control marsh ragwort in infected meadows, if they apply such regime accurately for several years. Keywords conservation, grassland weed, management, marsh ragwort, mechanical control, toxic species 64 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Plant preference by a specialist herbivore and its parasitoid on an exotic and native plant Fortuna, Taiadjana; Vet, Louise; Harvey, Jeffrey Netherlands Institute Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) t.fortuna@nioo.knaw.nl Invasive plant species are recognised as a threat to biodiversity and their control is estimated costly worldwide. The range expander, Bunias orientalis, is a wild crucifer native to Western Asia and Southeastern Europe but in the past decades it has become highly invasive in northern and central Europe. Although different theories have been proposed to explain the success of many invasive species, little is known about the mechanisms behind plant invasion. We compared the effect of the exotic plant, B. orientalis, and a native related plant, Sinapis arvensis, on oviposition preference and offspring performance of Pieris brassicae butterlies. Furthermore, natural enemies may play an important role in limiting the effectiveness of herbivores to control invasive plants. We compared the light response of Cotesia glomerata, P. brassicae endoparasitoid, in a two-choice test between the exotic and the native plant. In addition, we measured the parasitism rate of P. brassicae larvae on both host plants and the volatiles emitted by damaged plants. We hypothesize: 1) the specialist herbivore will not exhibit preference between the native and the exotic plant, because it is adapted to both plants’ secondary chemistry; 2) The parasitoid will be equally attracted to the volatiles of both plants, showing a similar parasitism rate of the host. The results will elucidate if B. orientalis may become a potential host plant to the herbivore in medium-long term. Nevertheless, the herbivores that realise plant shift may also be subjected to top-down control by parasitoids, liberating the exotic plant from new acquired enemies. Keywords Bunias, Sinapis, Pieris, Cotesia, invasive plant 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 65 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Host Category Deining to Mitigate Orobanche aegyptiaca Pers. Infestation Ghotbi, Mitra (1); Ghotbi, Marjan (2) 1: Department of Agronomy, Agricultural faculty, Shahed University , Iran, Islamic Republic of 2: Faculty of Natural Resources and Agriculture, Science & Research branch of Azad University, Tehran, Iran mitra.ghotbi@gmail.com Through the current study trap and catch crops culturing to decrease infestation of Egyptian broomrape (Orobanche aegyptiaca Pers.) were tested in PE bag and pot experiments. 27 crops; members of the Alliaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Pedaliaceae, Linaceae, Malvaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae and Solanaceae families, were grown in 2-Kg pots containing sterile soil infested with 0.6 g of Egyptian broomrape seeds. Control pots contained only 0.6 g of Egyptian broomrape. Two month-old plants were incorporated into the soil and tomato seedlings (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) were planted in the pots. Eighty days later the experiment was terminated by determining the number and dry weight of the Egyptian broomrape shoots as well as their capsules. Through mentioned groups cotton in Malvaceae family, which belonged under trap crop column, was able to eradicate O. aegyptiaca’s threat thoroughly. The most signiicant reduction in broomrape shoot and capsule number was demonstrated in pots which formerly contained cotton and sorghum. Furthermore, cotton decreased early infestation of the parasite, thereby signiicantly augmented tomato dry weight. Results obtained through PE bags investigation were in agreement with those concluded from the pots experiment. O. aegyptiaca germination response next to given plants in PE bag ranged from 8.333% to 55.333% respectively in millet and pepper. Except for sunlower, vetch, soy bean, chick pea, sainfoin, alfalfa, zucchini, sesame, which were demonstrated to be catch crop, other cultured plants i.e. corn, oat, beet, sugar beet, triticale, caster-oil plant, Millet, iber lax, pepper, cotton & sorghum were determined as trap crops for O. aegyptiaca. Keywords cotton, sorghum, pepper, trap crop, declining broomrape infestation, catch crop 66 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Evaluation of herbicidal activity of metabolites of Trichoderma spp. for the management of parthenium weed Javaid, Arshad; Shaique, Ghazala; Ali, Sajjad; Shoaib, Amna Institute of Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan arshadjpk@yahoo.com The present study was designed to evaluate the herbicidal activity of metabolites of four Trichoderma spp. namely T. harzianum Rifai, T. pseudokoningii Rifai, T. reesei and T. viride Pers., against parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.), one of the world’s worst weed. Metabolites of the four test Trichoderma species were prepared using liquid malt extract and M-I-D as growth media. In laboratory bioassays, seeds of parthenium weed were exposed to original (100%) and diluted (50%) metabolites of the four Trichoderma spp. in 9 cm diameter Petri plates. Metabolites of all the four Trichoderma spp. exhibited herbicidal activity against parthenium. Metabolites of T. harzianum exhibited highest herbicidal activity. In general metabolites prepared in M-1-D medium were more inhibitory to germination and root/shoot growth than the metabolites prepared in malt extract medium. In foliar spray bioassays, pot grown 1-week and 2-weeks, old parthenium plants were sprayed with original Trichoderma metabolites thrice with ive days intervals. Metabolites of all the four Trichoderma spp. signiicantly suppressed root and shoot growth in treatment where foliar spray was started on 1-week old parthenium plants. Older plants (2-weeks old) were comparatively resistant to foliar spray. Metabolites prepared in M-1-D medium exhibited more severe effect than those prepared in malt extract medium. The present study concludes that metabolites of Trichoderma species, especially prepared in M-1-D medium, contain herbicidal constituents which can be used for the management of parthenium weed. Keywords Fungal metabolites, natural herbicides, Parthenium weed, Trichoderma 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 67 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Are biological traits behind the success of exotic plants in irrigated crops? The case of fruit tree orchards in NE of Spain Juárez, Alejandro; Solé, Xavier; Conesa, Josep Antoni; Recasens, Jordi Universitat de Lleida, Spain juarez@hbj.udl.cat Agriculture is an important way how to introduce plant species into regions out of their natural range. Non-native species can be successful in recipient weed communities depending on several factors like biological traits. In the plain of Lleida (NE of Spain), a high number of non-native species occurs in weed communities in fruit tree orchards. Traditional management in these crops includes summer lood irrigation and weed control by mowing. This study try to elucidate (1) if there are differences between biological attributes of exotic and native weed species in irrigated fruit tree orchards and (2) if these different attributes favor exotic species against native lora. For this purpose, weed lora in 136 irrigated fruit tree orchards was sampled. Biological traits like life form, photosynthetic pathway, kind of vegetative propagation, lowering phenology, seed traits, seed dispersal and Ellenberg index were compared between non-native and native plants. Results from the surveys show that exotic plants have higher dominance than native plants although number of exotic species is lower than native ones. Exotic species are more likely to be grasses, with C4 photosynthesis, with water seed dispersal, summer lowering and higher Ellenberg values of temperature and light. These results suggest that higher cover values of exotic weeds could be explained by their differences in biological traits regarding to native species. Traditional management of fruit tree orchards could have beneited the success of exotic weeds by selection of traits favored by lood irrigation (as C4 photosynthesis of water seed dispersal) in summer (as Ellemberg values of temperature, light and summer lowering) and mowing (as grass form). Keywords weeds introduction, biological attributes, Ellemberg indicator values, lood irrigation, mowing 68 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Hordeum spontaneum: Invasive weed threatens wheat farms in Iran Mirjalili, Abbas S. (1); Poorazizi, Elahe (2) 1: Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Isfahan Agri-jahad educational center, Iran 2: Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch abmirjalili@gmail.com Wild barley is an herb belonging to Poaceae which is widespread throughout Iran as a weed. Rapid distribution of Hordeum species, especially on wheat production areas such as Fars, Khuzestan, Kermanshah and Khorasan provinces, endangered sustainable production of wheat in Iran. According to this, it is necessary to focus on the genus as a weed. The aim was investigation on ecology, distribution and transferring methods of the species for managing it. Studies showed that no herbicide can, exactly, control this weed. Therefore, no chemical methods such as using puriied seeds, crop alternation and Makhar are the ways can limit distribution and developing of the species. On the other hand, investigations showed that three herbicides; Sufix, Apyrus and Total, are more useful herbicides for controlling of the weed. Studies, also, showed that the most fundamental factor in developing of distribution is farmers. A brief study, also, were done on wild barley morphology, ecology, distribution in Khuzestan, seed transferring, life cycle, and nonchemical control of this weed (prevention, crop alternation, Makhar, ire, harvesting as fodder and inlorescent cutting) along with chemical control were discussed. Keywords wild barley, managing methods, seed transferring, herbicide, Iran 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 69 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Session 3 How far are control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders? Posters 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 71 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Ascaulitoxin, its aglycone, and 4-aminoproline: non-protein amino acids produced by Ascochyta caulina as potential new herbicides Avolio, Fabiana (1); Andoli, Anna (1); Evidente, Antonio (1); Zonno, Maria Chiara (2); Dayan, Franck E. (3); Rimando, Agnes M. (3); Vurro, Maurizio (2); Christiansen, Nicole (4); Looser, Ralf (4); Hutzler, Johannes (5); Grossmann, Klaus (5); Duke, Stephen O. (3) 1: Università di Napoli „Federico II“, Italy 2: Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari, CNR, Bari, Italy 3: USDA-ARS-NPURU, University, MS, U.S.A. 4: Metanomics GmbH, Berlin, Germany 5: BASF Agricultural Center, Limburgerhof, Germany fabiana.avolio@unina.it Chenopodium album is a common world-wide weed of arable crops such as sugar beet and maize, for which the perthotrophic fungal species Ascochyta caulina has been proposed as a mycoherbicide. Ascaulitoxin, its aglycone and trans-4-aminoproline, a non-protein amino acid, are potent phytotoxins produced by A. caulina. These toxins could be used as natural herbicides. This communication will report the results of the studies carried out on their mode action, analysis of toxins in complex samples and optimization of their large-scale production, the latter aimed to their practical application. Keywords Ascochyta caulina, Ascaulitoxin and its aglycone, D-Trans-4-aminoproline, Mode of action, Large scale production, Analytical method 72 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Evaluating the allelopathic potential of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) by ECAM method Namdari, Tara; Amini, Rouhollah; Dabbagh Mohammadi-nasab, Adel; Alavikia, Siamak Tabriz university, Iran r_amini@tabrizu.ac.ir The laboratory-based experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retrolexus L.) root exudates on seedling growth of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivars. The experiments were arranged in a factorial arrangement and randomized completely block design with three replications. In irst experiment the factors were three common bean cultivars including Akhtar, Daneshkade and Khomein, redroot pigweed densities at 0, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 seeds in each beaker and redroot pigweed growing time at 3, 6, 9 and 12 days that were arranged as factorial experiment. Generally the results showed that 6 days of redroot pigweed growing time and density of 16 and 24 plants / beaker had the greatest inhibition effect on common bean root and shoot length. In second experiment the factors were included the same common bean cultivars and redroot pigweed densities with three levels of charcoal (0, 2 and 4% v/v), were added to growth medium. The effect of activated charcoal on seedling growth of common bean cultivars was signiicant. Addition of charcoal to the growth medium substantially decreased the inhibitory effect of redroot pigweed on common bean root growth and indicated that root exudates of redroot pigweed contain the allelopathic compounds. Also the inhibition effects of redroot pigweed on different common bean cultivars were signiicantly different. Keywords Allelopathy, common bean, growing time, redroot pigweed, root exudates 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 73 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Crop residues, an effective tool for improving growth of wheat and suppression of some associated weeds Abdalla, Mahmoud Hozayn Mahmoud; Abd El Monem, Amany Attia; Abd El-Lateef, Ezzat Mohamed National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt m_hozien4@yahoo.com Crop residues are well known for their allelochemicals and physical effect on crops and weeds. Allelopathic potential of different crop residues viz. sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) and sunlower (Helianthus annuus) for the cannary grass, (Phalaris minor Retz) burclover, (Medicago polymorpha L.) wild oats (Avena fatua L.) suppression was investigated in pot study. Parts of chopped residues (shoot and root) were incorporated at 4, 8, 12 and 16 ton ha-1 (2, 4, 6 and 8 g kg-1 of the soil) into the soil and a weedy check was also maintained. Fifteen seeds of wheat, ten seeds of wild oats and cannary grass and ive seeds of burclover were sown per pot. These pots were arranged in completely randomized design with three replicates. Soil incorporation of all residues substantially decreased seedling number, fresh and dry weight of tested wheat and weed species except sunlower root residue on wheat where slightly increased the above mentioned traits. Residue of both crops exhibited selectivity in their effect on tested weed species, where sorghum residue inhibited seedling numbers and dry weight of grassy weeds (canary grassy) more than sunlower. While broad-leaved weed (burclover) was greatly depressed by adding sunlower residue more than sorghum residue. These residues exerted a pronounced negative inluence on the seedling number and dry weights of tested weeds (at 60 days after sowing) where sorghum shoot residues gave greatest reductions in fresh and dry weights of wild oats (43.55% and 62.90%, respectively) and cannary grass (72.00% and 73.08%, respectively) as compared to control treatments. Meanwhile, incorporation of sunlower root residues achieved highest depressions in seedling number and dry weights of burclover (90.14% and 82.76%, respectively), compared to untreated control. According to allelochemicals identiied from crop residues we found that some allelochemicals were related to the crop species, where, O-coumaric (stem), m-coumaric (leaf), salicylic (leaf) and cinnamic acids were found only in sunlower (root, stem and leaf) extracts, while protocatechuic (stem) and benzoic acids were identiied only in sorghum (leaf and root) extracts. Present studies conclude that integration of sorghum and sunlower residues have potential to suppress seedling growth of some weeds associated wheat. These residues can be used as eco-friendly approach for management of this weed provided that maximum levels of phytotoxins entering into the soil encounter the early growth and development of these weeds. Keywords Crop residue, Wheat, Weed, Allelopathy 74 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Eco-friendly management of woody weeds in natural and urban areas: the case of Ailanthus altissima in the Apulian Region Casella, Francesca ISPA, Italy francesca.casella@libero.it Among the arboreal and shrubby weeds colonizing non-crop environments in the Apulia Region (Italy), Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle (Tree of Haven), an exotic invasive fast growing species, is one of the worse. Its management is very dificult because of its fast growth and root-sucker’s production, and mechanical and chemical treatments provide only shortterm control. Within a research program on the management of woody weeds, impact of A. altissima was assessed in the wide urban area of Bari and in the Alta Murgia National Park. During numerous inspections distribution was determined by mapping all plants with GPS; their size, number and density were estimated. All damages were noted down. In Bari, data were recorded along a 76 Km path, with 146 areas of plants surveyed (most with medium-high density) and 584 single plants measured; in the Park around 126 Km of roads were mapped, with a total of 92 areas surveyed and 130 single plants measured. Compared with other arboreal and shrubby weeds, in Bari A. altissima proved to be the most widespread species; in the Park it is highly threatening the ecological equilibrium of the environment. Its distribution in the studied areas conirms its ability to colonize strongly disturbed, marginal, or natural undisturbed environments. Moreover, within the project, different methods for micro injection of systemic herbicides into trunks were developed and tested, to combine the effectiveness of the herbicides at reduced rates with the safety for non target organisms and environment. The results of mapping and tests will be presented. Keywords Ailanthus altissima, natural, urban 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 75 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Biological Control of Rumex spp. in Europe: Biosafety studies of a native root boring sesiid moth. Pedrotta, Tiziana; Schneider, Vanessa; Müller-Schärer, Heinz University of Fribourg, Switzerland tiziana.pedrotta@unifr.ch Rumex obtusifolius is widespread throughout Europe and recognized as the economically most important native weed in grassland ecosystems causing yield losses of up to 30%. It can spread rapidly due to its high seed production and ability for clonal growth, and is unpalatable to several livestock. Chemical and mechanical control measures are widely applied, but their eficiency is unsatisfactory and highly costly. The same holds for previous biological control attempts using the leaf feeding chrysomelid beetle Gastrophysa viridula and the leaf rust pathogen Ramularia rubella. In contrast, a root feeding Sesiid moth has been recently introduced from Europe into Australia, mainly against Rumex pulcher, which resulted in sustainable control. Following on this success, a research consortium including an industrial partner was formed in Switzerland to explore the potential of the native root borer Pyropteron chrysidiforme (Lep.: Sesiidae) as a biocontrol agent against Rumex obtusifolius. During summer 2010 we performed a series of oviposition and larval transfer test to assess its host speciicity. Preliminary results indicate signiicant oviposition preference for the target weed. Survival of larvae transferred on 20 test plants was very low (< 1%), with only ive living larvae found three months after transfer of irst instar larvae, all on Rumex spp. Further biosafety studies include the development of procedures to increase early larval survival on the target plant, an extension of host speciicity tests also to ield conditions, and environmental risk assessments such as the response of potential predators to an increased occurrence of this sesiid. Keywords Biocontrol, weeds, Rumex obtusifolius, Pyropteron chrysidiforme, biosafety studies 76 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 The presence of important invasive weeds in forest nurseries Vasic, Verica (1); Konstantinovic, Branko (2); Orlovic, Sasa (3) 1: University of Novi Sad Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment, Serbia 2: University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture, Serbia 3: University of Novi Sad Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment, Serbia vericav@uns.ac.rs Invasive weeds species have an incredible ability to adapt to external environmental conditions and produce an enormous amount of seeds that gives them a big expansion in space. Their presence in nurseries take away the young plants living space, overshadowed and water and nutrient shall be taken on account of growing plants. If the weed does not suppress, we will get seedlings of poor quality and in the smaller number than expected. Weed control in forest nurseries is very important because the quality seedling material is one of the main preconditions for successful rising of forest plantations. Research of weed vegetation was carried out in forest nurseries which are located in the Vojvodina. During the growing season from 2007 to 2010 year carried out an assessment of abundance and cover of weeds in nurseries by the method of Braun-Blanqet. The results showed that from the total number of registered weeds in forest nurseries, was attended by 11 invasive species. Invasive species Ambrosia artemisifolia L., Erigeron canadensis L., Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers., Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv., Amarantus retrolexus L. and Portulaca oleracea L. were present in all investigated nurseries. In addition to threatening the survival of crop plants, invasive plants seriously threaten human health. In order to prevent further spread of invasive species in nurseries have taken appropriate measures to control such as chemical and mechanical measures. Keywords invasive weeds, forest nurseries 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 77 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders The effect of some treatments on breaking seed dormancy in Mesquite Alebrahim, Mohammad Taghi; Kazerooni, Ebrahim; Majd, Roghayeh Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran m.t.alebrahim@gmail.com Seed dormancy is one of the well-known features in many weed seeds caused weed control to be hard. Mesquite, as a woody perennial invasive plant has become troublesome in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. The effect of mechanical (sandpaper and scalpel), chemical (sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide) and boiling water on breaking seed dormancy in two populations of Mesquite were examined. For mechanical treatments, seeds were abraded 10, 20 and 30 times with two kinds of sandpaper or scariied with scalpel. Seeds were also soaked in boiling water for 2, 5 and 10 min. For chemical treatments, the seeds were soaked for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 min in 98% sulfuric acid or 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 min in 50%, 70% and 90% sodium hydroxide solution. Germination was obtained through scariication with scalpel (89%, 68.2%), sulfuric acid (72.8%, 54.2%) and boiling water (53.6%, 28%), in Borazjan and Kashmar populations respectively. Sodium hydroxide (22.6%, 1%) and sandpaper (19.2%, 3.5%) have no effect on both populations, particularly in Kashmar. In general Kashmar showed more hardseedness than Borazjan populations. Keywords Dormancy, hardseedness, scariication, boiling water, germination 78 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 New Pathogens of Solanum elaeagnifolium investigated as possible biocontrol agents of the weed in Greece Kashei, Javid (1); Lagopodi, Anastasia (2) 1: USDA ARS European Biological Control Laoratories, Thessaloniki, Greece 2: Plant Pathology Laboratory, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece javidk@afs.edu.gr Solanum elaeagnifolium (Silverleaf nightshade) is an alien invasive weed in Greece, parts of southern Europe and many North African countries with Mediterranean climate. Since its establishment in Greece in early 1900’s, it has become rapidly one the most dangerous and aggressive weeds in the country, especially in north and central parts. Climate change and the rise of temperature in the Mediterranean basin increase the possibility of spread and establishment of the weed in new regions, since it is extremely resistant to drought. Recently two new fungi were discovered attacking the weed in Greece and the goal is to evaluate the impact of their presence, and the possibility of using endemic pathogens for biological control of S. elaeagnifolium. The irst fungus has been identiied as Verticillum dahliae. However, V. dahliae is a serious pathogen and most of its strains are pathogenic to numerous hosts, so it is not appropriate as a biological control agent. On the other hand the presence of this fungus on a widespread weed is a threat to the cultivated plants, since diseased S. elaeagnifolium would facilitate the maintenance and proliferation of the fungus’s propagules in the soils. The second fungus is Erysiphe spp. Chances of Erysiphe sp. to be speciic to S. elaeagnifolium are very high, since most powdery mildew pathogens are host speciic, but this needs further justiication. This is the irst world record of both fungi attacking silverleaf nightshade. The use of endemic natural enemies of the invasive, alien weeds in Europe would bring the challenge of their control to a new level. Keywords Solanum elaeagnifolium, Verticillum dahliae, Erysiphe sp., biological control 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 79 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden. – possibilities of chemical control on ruderal habitats in Poland conditions Domaradzki, Krzysztof; Badowski, Marek Institute of Soil Sciences and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, Poland k.domaradzki@iung.wroclaw.pl Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden. came from the Caucasus region but it was spread across the Middle and East Europe, where it became an invasive weed species. This weed was brought to Poland at the end of 50’s of past century and a several years later its cultivation as a fodder plant was begun. After short a time, the cultivation of H. sosnowski was inished. Unfortunately, this species started to spread spontaneously at a very fast rate. Presently, H. sosnowski is considered to be the most dangerous invasive weed species in Poland. In the years 2009–2010 the trials were carried out. In these experiments, the possibilities of H. sosnowskyi chemical control in ruderal habitats were estimated. In the trials 9 herbicides (used single and in the tank mix) were applied. The eficacy of herbicides in 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after treatment was evaluated. The best effect of H. sosnowskyi control (98% eficacy) after application of mixture lazasulfuron with glyphosate. Very good results (90–95%) were obtained at the application of herbicides containing trichlopyr and mixtures [trichlopyr + luroxypyr + chlopyralid], [propoxykarbazone sodium + iodosulfuron methylsodium + amidosulfuron] and [trichlopyr + luroxypyr + chlopyralid] + [propoxykarbazone sodium + iodosulfuron methylsodium + amidosulfuron]. But only irst three of them prevented H. sosnowski from regrowing from undergroung organ. Another experiment with the use of the examined herbicides and their mixtures had a weaker effect and did not prevent the regrowing. Keywords Heracleum sosnowskyi, control, herbicides 80 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Possibility of Solidago gigantea Aiton chemical control on fallow area in Poland Badowski, Marek; Domaradzki, Krzysztof Institute of Soil Sciences and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, Poland m.badowski@iung.wroclaw.pl Solidago gigantea Aiton from North America to Europe was brought. It is a invasive weed species which perfectly acclimatizes and displaces native species. Presently S. gigantea is very common in the whole area of Poland. It appears particularly in ruderal habitats and on fallow lands. In Poland appear above 400 000 ha fallow lands. The surface of this area is decrease each year because they are restored to agriculture production. Therefore very important problem is elimination of oppressive weed species (like S. gigantea) which appear in this areas. In the years 2009–2010 the trials were carried out. In this experiments possibilities of S. gigantea chemical control in fallow lands were estimated. In the trials 9 herbicides (used single and in the tank mix) were applied. The eficacy of herbicides in 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after treatment was evaluated. The best effect of S. gigantea control (100% eficacy) after application of trichlopyr and mixtures [trichlopyr + luroxypyr + chlopyralid] and [lazasulfuron + glyphosate]. Very good results (90-98%) provided application of herbicides containing glyphosate and mixture [lumioxazine + glyphosate]. Another with examined herbicides and its mixtures have had a weak effect. Its eficacy oscillated in the level 15–65%. Keywords Solidago gigantea, fallow lands, control, herbicides 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 81 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Biological control of common mistletoe (Viscum album L.) with hyperparasitic fungus Varga, Ildikó (1); Poczai, Péter (2); Taller, János (1) 1: University of Pannonia Georgikon Faculty, Hungary 2: University of Helsinki, Finland varga.ildiko@ex1.georgikon.hu Common mistletoe (Viscum album L.) is a perennial hemiparasitic shrub which has more, than 450 hosts. It is widely distributed through Europe and it was also introduced to North America. Mistletoes affect their hosts in many ways, they affect height and diameter growth and adversely affect the quality and quantity of wood produced and induces water stress, contributing to the forests decline spiral. Presently, there are no effective plant protection methods against common mistletoe. Direct methods, such as pruning infected branches or removing infected trees are still the only practical methods to control this hemiparasite. However, they are applicable only in small areas, such as city parks or orchards. The idea of biological control occurred when the damage on mistletoe caused by Phaeobotryosphaeria visci (Kalchbr.) A. J. L. Phillips & Crous was irst time reported. This fungus is the most destructive pathogen of common mistletoe, which infects all plant parts, including haustoria. First we have isolated the hyperparasitic fungus and produced monospore culture for molecular identiication, which was carried out by sequencing the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. During our pilot study we carried out successful artiicial infections from pure cultures and tested various liquid media suitable for future mass fermentation. We found that the key feature for successful infection relays on the perfect sporulation of the fungus. To reach the above mentioned criteria we carried out spore induction experiments with near UV light and sugar free media. Keywords Viscum album, biological control, hyperparasitic fungus, mistletoe 82 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Broomrape (Orobanche aegyptiaca L.) control in Sunlower (Helianthus annuus) with glyphosate Sadidi, Faezeh (1); Kord Asiyabi, Fahimeh (1); Ghotbi, Mitra (1); Moghaddam Khamseh, Alireza (1); Ghotbi, Marjan (2) 1: Shahed University, Iran 2: Faculty of Natural Resources and Agriculture, Science & Research branch of Azad University, Tehran, Iran mitra.ghotbi@gmail.com Broomrapes are achlorophyllous holoparasites of many economically important dicotyledonous crops. As weeds, they cause reductions in crop yield, adversely affect crop quality, and result in loss of cultivated land due to reduced crop alternatives. Few effective control measures exist for broomrapes. One of the most promising approaches is the use of low rates of glyphosate in hosts with tolerance to the herbicide. Sunlower (Helianthus annuus) is a susceptible host of the root holoparasites Orbanche aegyptiaca in the Mediterranean region and Middle East, that suffers severe yield losses due to high levels of ield infestations. Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine] herbicide is selective nucleic acid metabolism and protein synthesis inhibiting that has been found effective for Orbanche. In ield experiment conducted on 2008 to evaluate the eficacy of glyphosate in controlling the parasite weed broomrape in sunlower in Iran., O. aegyptiaca was controlled in sunlower-infested soils by split and root foliar applications of low rates of glyphosate herbicide. Six doses of glyphosate (0, 0.075, 0.15, 0.225, 0.350, and 0.450 kg a.i. ha-1) sprayed 25 days after sunlower seed sowing and reapplied at 4-week after the irst application. Orbanche infestation was severely prevented at 0.225, 0.350, and 0.450 kg a.i. ha-1 glyphosate application. Glyphosate signiicantly reduced the growth of broomrape at 0.225, 0.325 and 0.450 kg ae ha-1 in sunlower ield. Although glyphosate treatments increased crop vigor and sunlower yield, sunlower head and kernel, was not damaged at all herbicide doses application. Keywords Broomrape, Sunlower, Glyphosate, Iran 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 83 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Distribution, ethnobotanical uses and natural enemies of Himalayan balsam from northern Pakistan Shabbir, Asad; Nasim, Ghazala University of the Punjab, Pakistan assadshabbir@yahoo.com Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera Royle) is an alien invasive plant now established in more than 20 European countries, 10 states in the USA, parts of Canada and New Zealand. The native range of Himalayan balsam is spread from the highlands of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan to Uttar Pradesh, India. A survey was conducted in northern Pakistan during 2007– 08 to document the distribution, ethnobotany and diversity of the natural enemies in the native range. The survey areas were mainly divided into three ranges based on altitudes i.e Murree hills (6500 ft), Kaghan valley (8000 ft) and Astore & Chilam valleys (7000–10500 ft). I. glandulifera was found to be distributed along the seasonal streams near Kharam, Chilam valley at 10300 ft (N-35’ 07 -21.9” E- 75.02’ -30.7”). In Kaghan valley young plants were found growing near the river Kunhar at 8300 ft (N-35’ 07 -21.9” E- 75.02’ -30.7”) generally found growing near the moist and shady places with an association with the thicket of Vibernum and Artmimisa species. In Murree hills, the areas surveyed include Ayubia National Park, Donga galli and Chashma village (N-35’ 07 -21.9” E- 75.02’ -30.7”). Himalayan balsam is locally used as an expectorant and for treatment of asthma and cough relief. Survey of different valleys also revealed that Himalayan balsam is voraciously fed by some herbivore insects and biotrophic pathogens. These recoded agents on Himalayan balsam could be potentially be further tested for their potential as biological control agents in introduced ranges. Keywords Himalayan balsam, ditribution, ethnobotany, natural enemies, Pakistan 84 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Use of Solanaceous Plants Extracts as Alternate Herbicides for the Management of Parthenium Shaique, Shazia; Shaique, Sobiya; Javaid, Arshad Institute of Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan drshazi81@gmail.com The present study was designed to evaluate herbicidal activity of Withania somnifera and Datura metel against noxious weed parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.). In laboratory bioassays, the effect of aqueous, methanol and n-hexane shoot and root extracts of 5, 10, 15 and 20% w/v concentrations (on fresh weight bases) of both the plant species was tested against germination and seedling growth of parthenium. In general, aqueous and methanol extracts markedly suppressed germination, and root and shoot growth of parthenium. Shoot extracts were more inhibitory than the root extracts. In foliar spray bioassay, aqueous and methanol shoot extracts of 10% w/v (on dry weight bases) concentrations were sprayed on 1-week and 2-weeks old pot grown parthenium seedlings. Two subsequent sprays were carried out after 5 and 10 days of the irst spray. Both types of extracts signiicantly reduced length and biomass of parthenium shoots. In a soil amendment bioassay, crushed dried leaves of W. somnifera were incorporated in the soil at 1, 2,…5% w/w. Parthenium seeds were sown one week after residue incorporation and plants were harvested 40 days after sowing. The various soil amendment treatments of W. somnifera and D. metel reduced parthenium seed germination by 43–89% and 7-89%, respectively. Residues of 4 and 5% concentrations signiicantly suppressed plant biomass. The present study concludes that foliar spray of aqueous and methanol extracts, and soil amendment with leaf residue of W. somnifera and D. metel can control the germination and growth of parthenium weed. Keywords aqueous, methanol and n-hexane extracts, Withania somnifera, Datura metel, Biocontrol potential 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 85 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Management of Parthenium hysterophorus L. by a natural herbicide – Tagetes erectus L. Shaique, Sobiya; Shaique, Shazia Institute of Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan drsobi81@gmail.com The present study provides an insight of use of Tagetes erectus as it contains herbicidal constituents for the management of Parthenium weed. Herbicidal effects of aqueous shoot, root, lower and soil extracts of allelopathic ornamental plant viz. T. erectus L. was evaluated against germination and growth of noxious alien weed Parthenium hysterophorus L. Aqueous extracts of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% (on fresh weight bases) obtained from aerial parts and rhizospheric soil of T. erectus inhibited germination and seedling growth of P. hysterophorus in bioassays conducted in petri plates. In foliar spray bioassay, aqueous extracts of aerial plant parts of 10% w/v (on dry weight bases) concentrations were sprayed on one- and twoweeks old pot grown Parthenium seedlings. Two subsequent sprays were carried out at 5 days intervals each. These extracts on pot plants resulted in reduced shoot and root length and biomass. In residue incorporation bioassay, crushed shoots of T. erectus were incorporated in the soil at 1, 2, 3 and 4% w/w bases. Parthenium seeds were sown one week after residue incorporation and plants were harvested 40 days after sowing. Incorporation of 1–4% residues signiicantly reduced germination by 25–88%. Residues at all the concentrations signiicantly suppressed plant biomass by 90–97%. Keywords aqueous shoot, root, lower and soil extracts, Tagetes erectus, Parthenium hysterophorus 86 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Parthenium management by culture iltrates of Drechslera species Shoaib, Amna; Javaid, Arshad; Akbar, Muhammad Institute of Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan aamnaa29@yahoo.com Herbicidal activity of culture iltrates of four Drechslera spp. namely D. australiensis (Bugnicourt) Subramanian & Jain, D. biseptata (Saccardo & Roumeguere) Richardson & Fraser., D. hawaiiensis (Curtis and Cooke) Shoemaker and D. holmii (Luttrell) Subramanian & Jain, prepared in malt extract broth, was investigated against parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) both in laboratory bioassays and in pots. In laboratory bioassays, the effect of original (100%) and diluted (50%) culture iltrates of the four Drechslera spp. was studied on germination and seedling growth of parthenium in 90 mm diameter Petri plates. Original culture iltrate of all the four Drechslera species signiicantly reduced germination, shoot length, shoot fresh biomass, root length and root fresh biomass of parthe-nium seedlings by 43–77%, 77–82%, 69–82%, 90–92% and 67–83% over control as compared to control. In pot trials, foliar application of original fungal culture iltrates was carried out on 1-week and 2-week old parthenium seedlings. Culture iltrates of all the four Drechslera spp. except D. holmii markedly reduced the shoot biomass of parthenium. Two weeks old plants were more susceptible to foliar spray than the 1-week old plants. There was 13–55% and 28–65% reduction in shoot biomass of 1-week and 2-weeks old parthenium plants, respectively, due to culture iltrates of various Drechslera spp. The present study concludes that the metabolites of Drechslera spp. can be used as alternative herbicides for the management of parthenium weed. Keywords Drechslera spp., fungal metabolites, natural herbicides, Parthenium hysterophorus 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 87 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Economic Beneits of an Early Eradication of Invasive Weeds in Agrosystems. The Example of Leptochloa spp. in Rice Fields in Spain Recasens, Jordi (1); Consola, Silvia (2); Llenes, Josep M. (2); Taberner, Andreu (2) 1: ETSEA. Universitat de Lleida, Spain 2: Servei Sanitat Vegetal. Generalitat Catalunya. Spain jrecasens@hbj.udl.cat The presence of invasive plants in a new area has both economic and ecological impacts. In agro-ecosystems, the estimation of the economic impact of an invasion seems more tangible than in a natural environment and it can even be an argument to establish an eradication program. However in crop ields it is not easy to have a real estimation of the economic beneits of an early eradication program. Whereas the direct costs (control strategies to be applied) are easy to calculate, the beneits are not. The beneits from eradication should be measured as the sum of yield losses caused by the weed and the cost of establishing an annual control strategy. In this work, we present an estimation of the economic beneits of an early eradication program established in rice ields in the Ebro Delta (Catalonia, Spain) for an exotic invasive weed observed in the last years (Leptochloa spp). Yield losses and costs of the control strategies applied were obtained from other rice cropping areas in Spain where the weed is also present and has spread during the last years. The differences between cost and beneits of eradication illustrate the importance of the early detection of an invasion and of a legal mandate aimed at eradication Keywords economic impact, eradication, Leptochloa, rice ields 88 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Understanding leafy spurge factors of invasion in the loodplains of Augé, Matthew USDA, France mauge@ars-ebcl.org Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L. subsp. esula, Euphorbiaceae), is a well known invasive species in North America. Nevertheless, this specie is also presenting invasive characteristics in a particular ecosystem of its native area. Indeed, leafy spurge is developing in dense patches, which are numerous since 1990, in the loodplains of the Val de Saône (VDS). As this plant is producing white latex, toxic for cattle, these grasslands, which are annually mowed, are losing their proitability as soon as they are infested. This economic loss may lead to ecological issues: the abandonment of the mowing grasslands exploitation or their reconversion to intensive agriculture (corn and poplar). VDS loodplains are one of the last large lood meadow areas in Europe. Annual loods, and various agricultural practices (mowing and grazing) which they are subject, are the source of a rich loral and faunal diversity, protected under the Natura 2000 network. The project involves the pooling of multidisciplinary data for studying invasive plant/ natural regulators/agricultural practices/biotic factors interactions. So, 2 investigations ields are explore: 1. understanding which are biological, genetic, ecological and agricultural factors involved in leafy spurge invasive process, and how do they interact. 2. to propose integrated invasion ways of control, targeting invasive plant/natural regulators interactions, in line with agricultural practices, after ield and laboratory experimentations. Keywords Val de Saône, leafy spurge, invasion characteristics, natural regulators 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 89 Abstracts Session 3 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Phytotoxicity of the genus Inula (Asteraceae) Omezzine, Faten (1); Ladhari, Afef (1); Rinez, Asma (1); Haouala, Rabiaa (2) 1: Faculty Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, Tunisia.( UR03AGR04) 2: Department of Biological Sciences and Plant and Environment Protection, Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott Meriem, University of Sousse, Chott Meriem 4042, Tunisia. (UR03AGR04) faten.omezzine@laposte.net Phytotoxicity of aqueous (at 10, 20, 30 and 40 g L-1) and organic (hexane, chloroform and methanol, at 3 and 6 mg mL-1) extracts of Tunisian invasive plants (Inula viscosa, I. graveolens and I. crithmoïdes [Asteraceae]) and their biomass incorporated in soil (at 1.25 and 2.5 g 100g-1) was evaluated on seed germination and seedling growth of milk thistle weed (Silybum marianum L.). Leaf and lower aqueous extracts of the three Inula species, signiicantly, reduced germination index and seedling growth of target specie and percentage reduction varied between 73 and 100 % at 40g L-1. A strong phytotoxicity was recorded with all organic fractions; especially chloroform ones at 6 mg mL-1. Growth percentage reduction varied between 77–100%; 87–100% and 74–100% in presence, respectively, of hexane, chloroform and methanol leaf extracts and these values were 64–98; 75–98; 37–96% in presence of organic lower extracts. Among the three selected species, I. graveolens organic extracts proved to be the most effective against S. marianum; a total growth inhibition was recorded with all its extracts. These effects were reproducible in pots experiment, indeed thistle germination was strongly inhibited in the presence of leaves and lowers biomass of the three species of Inula, added to a soil. The two organs residues incorporation caused (at 2.5 g 100g-1) a reduction of 86–100% and 88–100% of, respectively, root and shoot length of milk thistle. Present results allowed concluding that Inula species biomass is rich in phytotoxic substances that could be the cause of their invasiveness. Keywords Phytotoxicity, Inula species, inhibition, germination, growth 90 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Control methods transferable between agricultural weeds and plant invaders Abstracts Session 3 Cereal breeding for organic farming: aspect of competitiveness against weeds Piliksere, Dace (1); Strazdina, Vija (2); Vicupe, Zaiga (2); Jansone, Zaiga (2) 1: State Priekuli Plant Breeding Institute, Latvia 2: State Stende Cereals Breeding Institute, Latvia dacepil@gmail.com Assessing weed suppression ability of crops has become more important with the development of organic plant breeding. This report introduces with irst results on the project “Development, improvement and implementation of environmentally friendly and sustainable crop breeding technologies” (2009/0218/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/099). The investigation is carried out with barley, oat, triticale and winter wheat varieties and breeding lines in organic crop rotations at State Priekuli Plant Breeding Institute and at State Stende Cereals Breeding Institute in Latvia. The aim is to develop the methodology for an estimation of cereal varieties and breeding lines for their competitive capacity against weeds, to establish more effective criteria of the selection by signiicant crop characteristics in the breeding process for organic growing conditions. Plant density after emergence, growth habit at tillering and at stem elongation, tillering capacity, plant height at the beginning and at the end of stem elongation and before the harvesting, amount of plants with inclined lag leaves at booting, beginning dates of such phenological phases as germination (emergence), tillering, stem elongation, heading and fully ripening, crop and weed ground cover several times from the end of tillering to full lowering, weed dry weights at cereal lowering, as well as crop yields are taken into account, to evaluate cereal varieties competitiveness. Harrowing is not performed in the trials, to exclude the impact of this factor. Multivariate methods are used for statistical data analysis. Detection of the most important crop characteristics, which provide the competitiveness against weeds in cereals, is stressed as a desired result. Keywords cereals, weed competitiveness 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 91 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Oral presentations Keynote Aquatic plant invaders in European freshwater ecosystems: an overview Hussner, Andreas Institut für Biochemie der Planzen, DE andreas.Hussner@uni-duesseldorf.de Non-indigenous aquatic plants are a major cause of biodiversity loss in European freshwater ecosystems and can additionally cause serious economic and recreational problems. In Europe, more than 60 introduced aquatic and semi-aquatic plant species (mainly originating from North- and South America) have been recorded and show strong differences in their weed potential. In general, the consequences of mass developments of aquatic plant species are related to the growth form of the species. The large loating species (e.g. Eichhornia crassipes) and rooted-loating species (e.g. Myriophyllum aquaticum, Ludwigia spp. and Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) have probably the highest weed potential due to their fast growth and their ability to cover large water surfaces within a short time period. But also several submerged species (e.g. Elodea nuttallii, Egeria densa and the currently fast spreading Myriophyllum heterophyllum and Cabomba caroliniana) are major threats to native plant diversity, and can cause economic and recreational problems as well. In this presentation I will give an overview about the current situation of introduced aquatic plants in Europe, their pathways of introduction, their current status of spread and highlight these species causing the most serious problems in European waters. A general Risk Assessment of the most important species will be given and Management options will be presented. Keywords aquatic plants, biodiversity, weed potential 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 93 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Changes in aquatic macrophyte communities in large oligotrophic Lake Ala-Kitka, northeastern Finland – effects of invasive aquatic macrophyte Elodea canadensis Väisänen, Anna Maria (1); Hellsten, Seppo (1); Aikio, Sami (2); Oksanen, Jari (2) 1: Finnish Environment Institute, Finland; 2: Oulu University, Finland anna.vaisanen@ymparisto.i Canadian waterweed (Elodea canadensis, Hydrocharitaceae) is a submerged aquatic angiosperm native to North America. This strongly invasive species was intentionally introduced to Finland, to the Botanical Garden of the University of Helsinki in 1884 (Hintikka 1917). At the present, the distribution range of E. canadensis covers South and Central Finland with separate plots at Lapland and Kuusamo district. First stands of E. canadensis were met in the northern basin of Lake Ala-Kitka, Kuusamo in the year 2008. Lake Ala-Kitka is a large (48.5 km2) oligotrophic lake, representing moderately alkaline lakes belonging to calcareous rare botanical lake type of Potamogeton iliformis-Chara with characteristics of Carex-type. In summer 2010, we reinvestigated 33 X 9 research plots (1 m2) of 52 macrophyte transects established in 1979–1980 in Lake Ala-Kitka. E. canadensis was present at 21% of the studied transects covering 1–90% of the research plots area. E. canadensis did not have signiicant effect to other macrophytes, propably due to short time (2–3 years) since invasion. Keywords Elodea canadensis, invasive species, impacts on species richness 94 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Management of invasive alien species in French aquatic ecosystems: irst results of a national survey Mazaubert, Emilie (1); Dutartre, Alain (1); Poulet, Nicolas (2) 1: Cemagref, France 2: Onema, France emilie.mazaubert@cemagref.fr A national survey to make an assessment on Invasive Alien Species (IAS) and their management in aquatic ecosystems in France is launched since the end of 2009. This survey is in order to answer a request from members of the French Working Group Biological Invasions in Aquatic Environments (WG BIAE). This survey is intended for managers and/or users of aquatic ecosystems. This assessment aims to take stock of IAS control and management actions. Information are collected and summarized with a view to facilitating exchanges between managers. Later, maps relating to the geographical distribution of IAS and the location of management actions in France will be produce. To reach these objectives, a questionnaire was set up in order to inventory the presence of IAS at the national scale and their visible impacts, to record management plans and the type of ecosystems colonized. The irst analysis of data already collected (nearly 300 replies) illustrates the extreme diversity of situations, including management interventions. It also shows the large spread of the identiied colonizations. The main detailed information extracted from these data concerns knotweed (Fallopia sp.) and water primrose (Ludwigia sp.). Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and buddleia (Buddleja davidii) are also frequently mentioned. Moreover, detailed data are available on the impacts (24% of replies) and on the management of these species (18% replies). The hand pulling is the main management method used to control these plants, as well mechanical harvesting. Information on intervention costs is also summarised in this analysis. Keywords aquatic ecosystems, invasive alien plants, impacts, management, control methods 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 95 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Importance of Ludwigia grandiflora as invasive weed on meadows in West France Haury, Jacques (1); Noel, Florian (1); Bozec, Michel (1); Coudreuse, Julie (1); Guil, Jérémy (1); Marrel, Gaulthier (1); Maisonneuve, Jean-Luc (2); Damien, Jean-Patrice (3) 1: INRA-Agrocampus Ouest, 65 rue de Saint Brieuc CS84215 - 35042 Rennes Cedex France 2: EDENN, 31-32, quai de Versailles 44000 Nantes 3: PNR Brière Maison du Parc, 117 route de Fédrun 44720 St-Joachim jacques.haury@agrocampus-ouest.fr In looded meadows, Large Water Primrose (Ludwigia grandilora ssp. hexapetala) has become an invasive weed since years in many Western marshes. Settlement occurs both by cuttings and seedlings. Our purpose was (i) to assess progressive colonization in three sites and (ii) to show adaptive traits of Ludwigia “terrestrial forms” using another site with a strong moisture gradient, and (iii) to get recommendations for managers. (i) In the Natural Regional Park of Brière, colonization occurred through dykes. The irst appearance was probably due to a dirty dredging engine. In Mazerolles polder, it was due to looding and was increased by pumping in colonized dykes with much fragmentation. In Apigné meadow bad drainage led to colonization by Ludwigia. Field maps assess progressive colonization on many areas. (ii) Adaptation to land conditions led to reduced biomass of the whole plant and increased ratio between roots and stems. Cumulative stem length was only 21 cm in dry conditions, while it reached 2064 cm in aquatic forms. After settlement, plants are able to survive for years provided there is some remaining moisture in the soil. (iii) As a consequence for managers, barriers limiting dispersion of cuttings should be established in dykes but also along the hydraulic network leaving reed strips. Flooding events should lead to careful ield survey to pick up the cuttings. The main problem is when fertile seeds are dispersed all over the area as in Mazerolles. No prevention exists, thus attempts of destroying Ludwigia mats are experimented. Keywords Ludwigia, wetlands, colonization, land form, management 96 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Impact of an invasive aquatic plant: the case of Ludwigia grandilora Stiers, Iris; Coussement, Kjell; Triest, Ludwig Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium istiers@vub.ac.be Aquatic plants have been widely introduced around the world through horticulture and the aquarium trade. Because different aquatic plants can have contrasting effects on water chemistry, habitat structure and food resources, they can have dramatic effects on many parts of aquatic ecosystems. Within the framework of the ALIEN IMPACT project we investigated the impact of Ludwigia grandilora, a highly invasive aquatic weed in Belgium and other European countries, on different functional groups: native plants, invertebrates and pollinators. Up to 32 ponds were selected for the impact study on plants and invertebrates. Native plant and invertebrate richness, abundance and composition were compared between invaded and uninvaded sites in close vicinity. To study the impact on pollinators an experimental design was set up to estimate the pollinator-mediated effect of the loral abundance of L. grandilora (difference in cover of the alien plant) on native potted Lythrum salicaria plants. Our results showed that L. grandilora signiicantly reduced native plant species richness, with fewer species in heavily invaded plots. Uninvaded ponds supported a more distinct invertebrate community, including species (e.g. Ephemeroptera) that were rare or missing from invaded ponds. Results on pollinators showed that more insects were recorded on L. salicaria plants when the cover of L. grandilora was low compared to the control plants (weak ‘facilitation’ effect). Overall, the impacts on the different functional groups were variable, but related to density of the invasive plant. Keywords aquatic ecosystem, biodiversity, density effect 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 97 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Assessment of the management of the biological invasion of Water primrose species in France Dutartre, Alain (1); Haury, Jacques (2); Lambert, Elisabeth (3) 1: Cemagref, France 2: Agrocampus Rennes, France 3: UCO Angers, France alain.dutartre@cemagref.fr After their introductions in South of France in the beginning of the 19th century, two species of Water primrose (Ludwigia grandilora and L. peploides) has been spread since about four decades on the main part of the French territory. Their large capacities of colonization of many aquatic biotopes, as river banks, shallow ponds and lakes, ditches and channels, wetlands, etc., and of competition with native species for light and nutrients, is a good explanation of their current status of invasive alien species in France. These amphibious species can grow in dense and monospeciic stands up to dozens of hectares in favorable biotopes. Their impacts to native aquatic plant communities can remove numerous hydrophytes and small helophytes species in these biotopes. Dense stands in stagnant water can also create very important oxygen depletion and organic matter deposits, with a variable decrease of the water quality. Their impacts on aquatic fauna, i.e. habitat banalizing, can reduce the species diversity of macro invertebrates and ishes. Since many years, several management interventions were made, particularly in the west part of France, in lakes and ponds, channel networks in wetlands and rivers with low water currents in summer. For example, in some small ponds in the South West or in the Marais Poitevin in the west, regular interventions has been made to reduce impacts of these species. In this presentation we present ecological and biological French data and an assessment on the management of these species in France. Keywords water primrose, invasive alien plants, impacts, management, control methods 98 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Cabomba caroliniana Gray in The Netherlands van Valkenburg, Johan (1); Roijackers, Rudi (2) 1: Plant Protection Service, The Netherlands 2: Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, The Netherlands j.l.c.h.van.valkenburg@minlnv.nl Cabomba caroliana a well known aquarium plant and traded in large volumes already for decades has recently established at some locations in The Netherlands. While quietly just surviving at some locations, it is behaving very invasive at other locations. We have characterized favourable growth conditions to predict potential distribution and studied its life-cycle to predict vulnerable stages in order to optimize control options. In addition to that, ield test were carried out on the eficacy of these management techniques in close collaboration with a water board. Results will be presented on the effects of shading, regular dredging and removal of the soft sediment by new techniques. Keywords Cabomba, aquatic weed, management options 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 99 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Relative growth rate and strategy of invasive and native Lemnid species in indoor and ield experiments: is there an effect of nutrient reduction? Gérard, Joëlle; Triest, Ludwig Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium jgerard@vub.ac.be Introduction of invasive macrophytes often leads to competition with native species or even with already established invasives. Several studies revealed competitive superiority of invasive plants over natives. Hence, we expect dominance of such invasives in aquatic ecosystems. Many water bodies are eutrophic, which might result in a competitive advantage of invasive macrophytes. Nutrient reduction can lead to a change in competitive performance. Competition between invasives in multiple-invaded systems is expected to be even higher, especially when they share growth form and position in the water column. Indoor experiments were conducted between two invasive free-loating Lemnid species in monocultures and mixtures under a phosphorus gradient. Lemna minuta is native to America, but has spread in Europe including Belgium. Landoltia punctata originates from Australia but was reported in The Netherlands. Since Lemnids are easily transported by waterfowl, L. punctata might invade Belgian waterbodies. This can result in (i) loss of established L. minuta (ii) exclusion of introduced L. punctata (iii) lower use of shared resources. Our results showed that both species performed better in monocultures but once nutrients were reduced, their RGRs were similar in mixtures. Difference in RGR (RGRD) was explained by species identity and nutrient level and indicated Lemna minuta as a better competitor. An additional ield and an indoor experiment was performed on reduced nutrient levels for competition between two co-occurring Lemnids in Belgium: invasive Lemna minuta and native Lemna minor. The use of indoor experiments to predict ield invasions and to anticipate management practices will be discussed. Keywords Competition, Lemnids, RGRD, macrophytes, controlled experiments 100 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Posters 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 101 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Exotic willows (Salix spp.) and their impact on the diversity and abundance of aquatic invertebrate communities Azmi, Wahizatul Afzan (1); Jennings, John T. (2) 1: Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia 2: The University of Adelaide, South Australia wahizatul@umt.edu.my The presence of willows in two freshwater streams (Sixth and Deep Creeks) in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia was clearly associated with a reduction in species diversity of aquatic invertebrate communities. The introduced hydrobiid snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) was the most dominant taxon overall and was signiicantly more abundant under willows in both streams. Where willows were removed and not revegetated, there were lower invertebrate species numbers and diversity in both streams. The removal of willows inluenced not only loss of habitat, but also increases in light intensity, decline in water quality and food availability. This situation is reversed when the riparian canopy is revegetated. Slightly more diverse fauna was recorded in the original vegetation (51 species) compared with both revegetated sites (49 species), and sites with willows removed (47 species), but was lower with willows present (39 species). The richer and more abundant fauna in the original vegetation and revegetation sites is due to a sparse, open canopy which permits higher primary productivity and favours more diverse growth of aquatic plants, shrubs and grasses. Our indings conclude that the presence of willows reduces species diversity and abundance. Removal of willows without subsequent revegetation resulted in lower species numbers and diversity of the aquatic invertebrates. We suggest that large scale willows removal may need special management considerations in order to reduce the impact on aquatic invertebrate communities. Keywords aquatic invertebrate communities, willows, diversity, abundance, revegetation 102 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Ecological Study for Invasive Potamogeton species in Tigris River Stretch Within Nineveh Province-Iraq Basheer Al-Ni‘ma, Basheer Ali; Al-Wattar, May Taha University of Mosul, Republic of Iraq babasheer2003@yahoo.com After completion of Mosul Dam construction on Tigris River and Lake formation in (1985) different genera of hydrophytes were invade the river. Variations in time and space for water quality, distribution and abundance of Potamogeton species were considered in 75 km long stretch below Mosul dam. Water temperature reached low values around 11 ºC in February and increased to values more than 23 ºC in August . Electrical conductivity ranged between 338 and 900 µs/cm. Values above 600 µs/cm were recorded only in August and September (i.e.) the period of highest evaporation rate. pH values ranged between 7.6–8.9. The monthly variations were inversely related with water temperature. Nitrite level ranged from 0.05 to 29.3 µg at NO2-N/l. The Monthly variations characterized by the presence of two peaks that coincident with rainfall and high discharge of the River. Nitrate range were wide. The values restricted between 480–2090 µg at NO3-N/l. The low values were recorded in July and August due to consumption by blooming species. Phosphate was one of the main factors behind the heavy growth of Potamogeton species since concentrations, throughout the studied period, were more than the critical value. Potamogeton species showed variability in their distribution and abundance. P. perfoliatus as an example, was found in one location only while P. nodosus was occurred in all locations. Most Potamogeton species were bloomed in summer and autumn and almost disappeared in the rest seasons. Keywords Iraq, Nineveh, Tigris River, Water properties, Plant nutrient, Potamogeton species 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 103 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Distribution pattern of Campylopus introflexus in peatlands of Lithuania Jukoniene, Ilona; Dobravolskaite, Rasa; Sendzikaite, Jurate; Skipskytė, Dovile Nature Research Centre, Institute of Botany, Lithuania ilona.jukoniene@botanika.lt Campylopus introlexus (Hedw.) Brid. is the only invasive bryophyte species recorded in Lithuania (irst record in 1996). Targeted investigations on distribution pattern of the species in peatlands were carried out in 2010. About 20 recently or formerly managed peatlands were studied throughout the country. Sampling plots (5–10) were selected in each of the study site. The abundance of vascular plant and bryophyte species was evaluated following BraunBlanquet scale. Percentage cover of all vascular plant and bryophyte species was recorded in 20 small plots (0,5×0,5 m). Phytomass of Campylopus introlexus, other bryophytes and vascular plants was estimated in 3 small plots. The invasive moss was ascertained to be the most frequent species (83 % of all small sample plots) in the initial stages of vegetation succession in the areas with disturbed natural vegetation. Polytrichum strictum Sm. was also frequently presented bryophyte species (78% of all small sample plots). Vascular plants (in total 114 species) of various ecological and biological groups were registered in the study plots. The most frequent were Betula pendula Toth, Calamagrostis epigejos (L.) Roth, Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull., Eriophorum angustifolium Honck, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin ex Steud., Pilosella cymosa aggr. In most cases Campylopus introlexus exceeded all vascular plant and other bryophyte species by abundance (mean cover 34 %) and phytomass. The research was funded by a grant (No. LEK 22/2010) from the Research Council of Lithuania. Keywords Campylopus introlexus, Lithuania, peatlands, bryophytes 104 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Abstracts Session 4 Mapping and Monitoring of an Aquatic Invasive Plant (Ludwigia grandiflora) with Multispectral Remote Sensing in a large wetland in West of France Nicolas, Hervé (1); Simon, Martin (1); Bottner, Benjamin (2); Haury, Jacques (3) 1: Agrocampus-Ouest,UMR SAS, France 2: Institution d‘Aménagement de la Vilaine, France 3: Agrocampus-Ouest, UMR ESE, France herve.nicolas@agrocampus-ouest.fr Concerning the colonization by Ludwigia grandilora in Western France, managers need risk maps. This study presents spatial, spectral and temporal remote sensing assessments in order to use multispectral approach for monitoring colonization of lakes and streams within a large wetland (<1000 km²). Different classiication methods – maximum likelihood, minimum distance, spectral angle mapper – and subpixel processing – linear spectral unmixing, Fcov (fraction of vegetation cover) / NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) – were conducted within the drainage area on SPOT 5 images acquired in 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The maximum likelihood classiication method provided better results – kappa coeficient: 0.96 for 2010 – while the minimum distance methods and spectral angle mapper gave kappa respectively: 0.72 and 0.92. This method, although requiring a lot of ield veriications, provides a relatively ine mapping of macrophyte stands (some m²) interannual and monitoring of the colonization of Ludwigia. The two independent methods of analysis have provided maps subpixel abundance of aquatic vegetation similar and consistent with expert knowledge in that ield. The identiication of this vegetation is ensured when the coverage rate is high. This study shows that mapping Ludwigia across a large wetland is possible but has some limitations due to spatial and spectral properties of SPOT 5. The mapping of abundant aquatic vegetation is also possible and could be coupled with other biophysical variables – biomass, LAI – and water – connectivity of lakes and streams – in order to obtain a map of risk. Keywords Ludwigia grandilora, multispectral remote sensing, risk map, monitoring, classiication 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 105 Abstracts Session 4 Invasive aquatic weeds, difference to terrestrial weeds and invasive plants? Aster and Sunlowers species – threat to the riparian habitats Rat, Milica (1); Anackov, Goran (1); Radak, Boris (1); Bozin, Biljana (2); Boža, Pal (1) 1: Faculty of Sciences, Serbia 2: Faculty of Medicine, Serbia milica.rat@dbe.uns.ac.rs Adaptive strategy of invasive alien species, provide them possibility to easily and quickly spread in the different type of habitat – ruderal, anthropogenic disturbed habitat, but also on the undisturbed native habitat. Natural ecosystems are nowadays presented in the Pannonian Plain only fragmentary. Riparian habitats are one of the main native types of habitats in this area, preserved around long lowland rivers. Species, introduced as horticultural or agricultural, mainly are not investigated as possible threat for the native habitats. But, it is not rare, to some of these species “escape” and start forming stabile populations in nature. Family Asteraceae have the biggest number of the species in Europe. Taxonomical analysis of alien plant taxa gives the same result. Aster and Helianthus species are known in Europe for the centuries. Mostly they grow in the mono-dominant, dense populations along rivers and river lows, and change the loristic structure of native associations. Spreading of them, directly are endangered rare and vulnerable species, which today have small, fragmented areal in native riparian habitats. The structure of the newly created communities often prevents the rehabilitation of natural associations’. Early detection and investigation of non-native species, with high adaptive potential are the base for the adequate protection and conservation of native ecosystems, and species and native hybrids of the aster and sunlowers require this attention. Keywords Aster, Helianthus, riparian habitats 106 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Session 5 The example ambrosia: management options and integration across target habitats Oral presentations Keynote Can Europe successfully ight the ragweed invasion? Staringer, Uwe Julius Kühn Institute, DE uwe.staringer@jki.bund.de The North American annual Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Asteraceae) was introduced unintentionally to several regions of the world where it has established and spread as a nonnative species. In Europe this spread started in the 19th century and is still ongoing. Due to its impacts on agriculture and human health, the plant is perceived as an undesirable addition to the countries where it occurs. Many countries have consequently set up measures to prevent further introduction and spread, and to reduce existing populations. These include funding of research, creating legal instruments, public awareness campaigns, and monitoring programs. More recently, international European efforts with the same aim were launched. The EU commission is currently funding two research projects aiming at a better knowledge of the species’ distribution and impacts and at testing and promoting control measures for eficient reduction of the species’ abundance. It does not appear that the spread of ragweed in Europe has been stopped or even slowed down signiicantly with the exception of some local or regional successes. We review the biological basis of the successful invasive spread of ragweed, the knowledge of mechanical, chemical and biological control measures, and the features of successful and non-successful national efforts. The role of Common Ragweed as model for an invasive plant in the awareness of the general public and the strength of respective activities by policy makers will be discussed. Keywords Invasion, ambrosia, Europe 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 107 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia European initiative for sustainable management of Ambrosia artemisiifolia Müller-Schärer, Heinz (1); Schaffner, Urs (2) 1: University of Fribourg, Ecology and Evolution, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg 2: CABI Europe-Switzerland, 2800 Delémont, Switzerland heinz.mueller@unifr.ch Common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, has uniquely raised the awareness of invasive plants in Europe. The main concern is its particularly large production of highly allergenic pollen that causes allergic rhinitis and severe asthma in over 20% of the population of affected areas. Furthermore, ragweed is presently the worst weed of major crops in several countries in Eastern Europe. Its range is still expanding in Europe and is likely to accelerate under a changing climate, increasing its threat in countries not affected yet. We plan to initiate a longterm platform to network, strengthen and disseminate research towards an economic and sustainable management solution of this exotic plant invader in Europe. Speciic directions are the development of innovative long-term management options such as biological control and vegetation management and their integration with available chemical and mechanical control techniques to provide site- and country-speciic control options. The present status of this collaborative research initiative and its links to other recently launched European Ambrosia programmes will be presented. Keywords biological control, Ambrosia 108 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Common ragweed pollen counts (Cour’s method), temperatures, rains, relative humidity: evolution 1982–2010 in Lyon (France) Méon, Henriette (1, 2); Déchamp, Chantal (2) 1: University Lyon1, France 2: Association française d‘étude des Ambroisies (AFEDA) henriette.meon@univ-lyon1.fr The pollen trap of the « Association Française d’Etude Des Ambroisies » (AFEDA) is settled down, since 1982, in the Lyon-Bron meteorological centre in an area particularly invaded by this noxious weed. Till nowadays, it remains in the same place, during 29 years. The pollen rain is registered each week and meteorological parameters are registered in the same time. In the irst years, the Ambrosia pollen concentrations were important and increased year by year till 1994 and 1995, but since 1996 they began to decrease. These data are compared with meteorological criteria, temperatures, rain amount and relative humidity Temperatures were considered during the whole year. Annual temperatures increase from 1982 to 2010 but this increase is less important from 1996 to 2010. The main increase (1982–2010) appears to be during March to May, i.e. during the growth beginning of the plant. The increase during the ragweed lowering period is less important. The increase during weeks 42–52, year n-1+weeks 1–13, year n (period of seed and of dormancy) is weak. As far as rain is concerned the rate averages nearly do not change during weeks 28–40, 1982–2010, only the relative humidity is decreasing. The reasons of the common ragweed pollen concentrations decreasing will be discussed. Keywords Ambrosia, climate parameters, Lyon, France 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 109 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Population structure and migration routes of the invasive Common ragweed in eastern Central Europe deduced from microsatellite markers Blöch, Cordula (1); Kropf, Matthias (2); Leitsch-Vitalos, Melinda (1); Huppenberger, Andrea (1); Karrer, Gerhard (1) 1: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria 2: 2Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria cordula.bloech@boku.ac.at Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Asteraceae) is a serious risk for human health due to its highly allergenous pollen and an important agricultural weed. The plant was introduced from Northern America into Europe in the late 19th century. Until the early 1990ies common ragweed was a rather rare inhabitant of disturbed anthropogenous habitats. In the recent years its abundance strongly increased. The invasion of common ragweed started into Western and Eastern Europe, and is assumed to consist on the one hand of expansions of longestablished populations and associated migration events and on the other hand of recent introductions from contaminated bird food and agricultural seed. In this study a dense sample with 79 populations from Austria and with three samples from Italy, one from Germany, six from Hungary, two from Russia, four from Slovenia, one from Serbia, one from the Ukraine and one from China, as well as two from bird seeds has been included for genotype analyses based on six microsatellite regions. The aims of our study are (1) to investigate the mode and directionality of colonization of common ragweed into Austria and eastern Central Europe in general, (2) to infer the genetic structure of the populations in the studied region, and (3) to identify potential genetic differences between populations from different habitat types. Analyses will be conducted to infer deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, general genetic structure of the populations, genetic diversity patterns, possible bottleneck events and genetic clustering of the studied individuals. Keywords Ambrosia, microsatellites, population genetics, migration routes 110 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Competitive suppression of common ragweed in early successional stages of revegetation Milakovic, Ivana; Karrer, Gerhard Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Austria ivana.milakovic@boku.ac.at The annual invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (Common Ragweed) causes health problems and crop yield losses. Persistent soil seed bank and high seed production rates make the control of this neophyte especially dificult. The approach chosen to solve this problem is to devise an eficient measure preventing further massive seed production. Chemical control cannot be applied in this context, be it for resistance problems, for legislative reasons or out of environmental concern. Non-chemical management solutions need to be developed. Ragweed is a shading-intolerant plant. In a pot experiment we test the eficiency of sawn vegetation under high and low ragweed density. Two commercial seed mixtures differing in their respective quantities of competitive grasses and clover are selected to compete with ragweed. We measured the development of ragweed population size and biometric variables before each cutting event and once after the last cutting. We found lower germination rates for the ragweed plants growing in Mixture 2 (higher proportions of Perennial Ryegrass) than in the Mixture 1 (0.2 and 0.4, respectively). Between the two terms we found 65% (Mixture 1) and 64% (Mixture 2) ragweed-mortality. This negative trend slowed down after the second term but continued until the end of the experiment. In glasshouse conditions the use of simultaneously sown competing vegetation showed to be very effective in reducing ragweed density and therefore prevent high seed production. Experiments with sowing of competing vegetation on newly constructed roadsides in ield conditions are currently running. Keywords Ragweed, management, invasive, neophyte, competition, roadside vegetation 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 111 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia The “Berlin Action Programme against Ambrosia” Dümmel, Thomas Freie Universität Berlin, Germany td@met.fu-berlin.de During the hot summers of 2003 and 2006 the two Berlin pollen traps of the Institute of Meteorology (Free University Berlin) detected the irst very high exposure (60 pollen grains per m**3 air) of Ambrosia pollen. In early 2009 interested groups and individuals in Berlin founded the „Berlin Action Programme against Ambrosia“ (www.fu-berlin.de/ambrosia). The aim of the information and action network is to prevent the spread of Ambrosia in Berlin and to minimize the occurrence. Information from, and participation of the general public, systematic surveys and mapping, the systematic removal and monitoring of habitats and the expansion of the network are the key objectives. “Ambrosia Scouts“ have been searching 9 out of 12 districts of Berlin systematically, eliminating Ambrosia plants and mapping sightings in the public internet based „Ambrosia Atlas“. An important conclusion of the “Action Programme” is that annual Ambrosia artemisiifolia occurs mainly in the western part of Berlin and is usually spread through bird food. In the eastern part, one inds mainly the perennial Ambrosia psilostachya, which is spread by earth moving during construction activities. 90% of the 1281 populations documented in 2010 were classiied as Ambrosia artemisiifolia (some 65,000 plants). Only 10% were Ambrosia psilostachya but set against the vast number of 1.5 million plants. 95% of the Ambrosia artemisiifolia populations could be eliminated, but only 45% of the perennial Ambrosia. Therefore, Ambrosia artemisiifolia habitats can be combated effectively by „Ambrosia Scouts“ and the general public. The vast expansion of Ambrosia psilostachya is Berlin’s greatest problem. Keywords Ambrosia, “Action Programme”, Ambrosia allergy, Ambrosia psilostachya, health 112 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Optimization of cutting regimes for control of ragweed along roadsides Karrer, Gerhard; Milakovic, Ivana University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria gerhard.karrer@boku.ac.at Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (common ragweed) is an annual neophyte in Europe. This Asteraceae has been introduced from North America and causes health problems and crop yield losses also in its introduced range. Persistent soil seed bank and high seed production rates make the control of Ragweed especially dificult. The main approach to solve this problem is preventing massive seed production. Like many European countries, Austria faces the problem of linear spread of ragweed along roadsides. Management regimes of the roadside vegetation can have high inluence on the production and spreading of ragweed seeds. Two parallel experiments have been started in order to detect the inluence of different timings and frequencies of mowing on several growth and reproductive traits of ragweed: one experiment where 8 different cutting regimes were applied to individual plants (pot experiment), and a second experiment where 4 different cutting regimes were applied to ragweed plants sown with roadside vegetation mixtures (box experiment). The cutting regime had serious inluence on both morphological and reproductive traits in all trials. The results show that the commonly applied control strategy of mowing of roadsides (especially its timing and frequency) should be designed in a more sophisticated way. I.e. they should be based more on target plant traits such as resprouting ability or phenological development and less on calendar date as often done in praxis by road services. Basal resprouts generally tended to develop mostly female lowers which produce serious numbers of seeds that will cause effective persistence of established roadside populations. Keywords ragweed, mowing, management, roadsides, invasive plant, nepohyte 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 113 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Session 5 The example ambrosia: management options and integration across target habitats Posters 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 115 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Concentrations of airborne pollen of ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) in Lithuania Sauliene, Ingrida Siauliai University, Lithuania ishauliene@gmail.com Understanding of biological invasions requires interdisciplinary studies. Major part of studies is performed by population and community ecologists and receiving little attention from aerobiologists. Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. pollen may produce major hay fever symptoms during its pollination period in August and September. The sensitization rate of subjects allergic to ragweed pollen in the European population is quite high and still increasing. In Lithuania Ambrosia plants are hardly found, but the amount of the pollen in the air is constant. In the three places of Lithuania ragweed pollens were sampled from 2006 to 2010 by a Hirst volumetric trap calibrated to handle a low of 10 L/min of air, which roughly corresponds to a human breathing rhythm. Pollen counts were performed on a daily and bihourly basis, which is of particular importance in allergologic practice. Concentration of ragweed pollen varies from year to year and depends on location of aerobiological station. Largest index of Ambrosia pollen is usually recorded in continental part of the country. In some days concentration of ragweed pollen exceeded 30 pollen grains/m3 and sometimes reached 65 pollen grains/ m3. Our results show that the number of days with values exceeding a daily average of 30 pollen grains/m3 air is very rare. Diurnal variation in pollen concentration showed a peak of pollen during the irst part of the day. This research was funded by a grant (No. LEK-15/2010 AMBROZIJA) from the Research Council of Lithuania. Keywords Ambrosia, pollen, Lithuania 116 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on Iva xanthifolia and Ambrosia artemisiifolia seed germination Vrbnicanin, Sava (1); Bozic, Dragana (1); Saric, Marija (1); Pavlovic, Danijela (2); Raicevic, Vera (1); Jovanovic, Ljubinko (3) 1: University of Belgrade. Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade, Serbia 2: Institute for plant protection and environment, Belgrade, Serbia 3: Institute for Multidiscilplinary Research, Belgrade, Serbia sava@agrif.bg.ac.rs Soil bacteria are able either to stimulate or inhibit seed germination by way of various bacterial products (auxine, gibberelin). Such activity is either indirect, with bacteria producing substances that prevent the activity of pathogenic microorganisms, or by making important nutrients available to plants. This investigation focused on testing the germination of Iva xanthifolia and Ambrosia artemisiifolia on media with growth promoting rhizobacteria. Germination of I. xanthifolia was studied under media: mixed population of Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megaterium and B.circulans (A1), humates (humic and fulvic acids extracted from peat) (A2), a mix of humates and A. chroococcum (A3), A. chroococcum (A4) and B. cirkulans (A5). Germination of A. artemisiifolia was studied under media: Pseudomonas luorescens (B1), A. chroococcum (B2), B. licheniformis (B3), B. pumilus (B4), B. amyloliquefaciens (B5). In control, seed germinate in water. Germination of I. xanthifolia was higher in all treatments than in control, while germination was the best in A3. All treatments had stimulating effect on germination, but it was not found that A5 treatment has a prominently high effect on seed germination of this species. Germination of A. artemisiifolia varied depending of bacterial media. The highest germination rate was found for B4 and the lowest for B1. Treatments B1 and B3 had inhibitory effect on germination, tretments B2 and B4 stimulated germination, while germination in treatment B5 was the same as in control. The seedlings of weeds emerge more uniformly when seed germination is stimulated, so that they could be killed in the next step of weed control. Keywords Iva xanthifolia, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, PGPR 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 117 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Five Years of Experience with an Action Plan for Ambrosia Control in Eastern Switzerland Popow, Gabriel Planzenschutzdienst Kanton Zürich, Switzerland gabriel.popow@bd.zh.ch Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. is a quarantine organism in Switzerland. All plants have therefore to be removed by the landowner and the sites have to be registered. To ind infested sites, municipality employees, gardeners and farmers have been instructed in short courses. They watched out for ragweed “by the way”, when working outdoor. Speciic controls were only made on critical sites (e.g. sunlower ields, gravel pits, old construction areas, fallows). Small and medium populations were easily to control by pulling up. Big populations in arable land need more patience. The strategy is to prevent the ripening of new ragweed seeds. The farmer has to respect a decreed crop rotation : Forbidden are crops, which allow ragweed ripening e.g. sunlower, soybeans. Recommended are cereals, rape seed or salads followed by plowing before 1. of September. Maize is allowed with potent herbicides only. Infested sunlower ields or maize ields on organic farms have been destroyed or harvested prematurely to prevent ragweed from spreading into new ields by harvesting equipment. In the canton of Zürich the number of registered populations decreased from almost 600 to around 40. In strongly infested arable land the number of emerging seedlings in 2009 was 95% lower compared to 2006. The costs of the measures taken have been signiicantly lower than expected at the beginning. Keywords Ambrosia, Integrated Control, Action Plan 118 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Immigration history, distribution and naturalisation of Ambrosia artemisiifolia in Lithuania Sauliene, Ingrida Siauliai University, Lithuania ishauliene@gmail.com Ambrosia artemisiifolia is a noxious alien weed in southern regions of Europe and Asia. In Lithuania two species of Ambrosia genus were registered, i.e. A. artemisiifolia and A. triida. A. triida is a rare casual grain immigrant and its naturalization is hardly possible. A. artemisiifolia is constantly recorded in Lithuania and in certain years it reproduces by seed, though self-sustaining permanent populations in the country are still not known. Nevertheless, temporarily occurring A. artemisiifolia in Lithuania successfully lower and can be a source of airborne pollen. Distribution of A. artemisiifolia in Lithuania is evaluated basing on herbarium specimens deposited in the herbaria, publications, unpublished authors data and ield investigations. All indings of A. artemisiifolia in certain locality in the same year were treated as one record. The most intense immigration of A. artemisiifolia in Lithuania took place since 1980s. In the period of 1981–1990 this species was recorded 88 times. During the next decade (1991–2000) the number of records decreased to 45. From 2001 to 2010 it was found 8 times. The analysis of the data on A. artemisiifolia distribution in certain periods shows that, the number of it records in Lithuania during the last decade signiicantly decreased because of a) the decrease of grain import to Lithuania, as imported grain is the main source of its seeds; b) strict management of railways, railway stations, grain mills and their surroundings. Naturalisation of A. artemisiifolia in Lithuania is possible, therefore measures to prevent this process should be employed. This research was funded by a grant (No. LEK-15/2010 AMBROZIJA) from the Research Council of Lithuania. Keywords Ambrosia, immigration, distribution, Lithuania 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 119 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Microsatellite variability of Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. in populations of Serbia and Croatia Kočiš Tubić, Nataša; Obreht, Dragana; Djan, Mihajla; Boža, Pal University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Serbia natasa.kocis@dbe.uns.ac.rs In Europe, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (Asteraceae) has been described as one of the most aggressive invasive plant species. The increasing problem of human sensitization to ragweed pollen and its high densities and harmful effects in crops ields, indicated the necessity of analyzing all aspects of this plant. In our study we analyzed microsatellite variability in two Serbian (Šabac, Kruševac) and two Croatian (Lug, Ilača) populations of Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Fresh leaf samples of 119 individuals from 4 wild populations of A. artemisiifolia were collected, a set of three microsatellite loci: Amb12, Amb16 and Amb30 were ampliied and allelic variability was screened by 6% denaturing PAA electrophoresis. At locus Amb30 the highest number of alleles (13) was detected, while at loci Amb12 and Amb16 lower number of alleles were found (3 and 10 alleles, respectively). Using Hardy-Weinberg exact test for all population and all loci, we detected deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (Ho=0.407, He=0.615), although at locus Amb12 there no heterozygote deiciency was detected. Intraclass estimate showed that populations from Šabac and Kruševac are genetically the most identical (FST=0.0187) and that populations from Šabac and Lug have the highest genetic divergence (FST=0.1133). Keywords Ambrosia, allelic variability, microsatellites 120 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Ragweed: pollen trap, a tool to deine the pollen grains origin Thibaudon, Michel; Oliver, Gilles RNSA, France rnsa@rnsa.fr To provide information and forecasts for population and doctors about the allergy risk due to pollen for prevention, R.N.S.A (Aerobiological Monitoring National Network, a French association) organized a pollen traps network in the main cities of France. The health impact of air content in ragweed pollen depends mainly on population exposure and the local origin of seedlings. The pollination of ragweed takes place during the morning within the increase of the temperature. To measure the exposition of people by pollen grains, the analyses of the registration are made with light microscopy with a bihourly time step, after pollen grain impaction within pollen trap. The study of the circadian rhythm of grain impaction allows to know if the production of pollens is from the same area than the trap (at few kilometers), for instance with morning peak, or at distance (until few hundreds kilometers) if the peaks are in the afternoon or even on evening or night. The meteorological information permit to complete these data. It is possible to compare the maps showing the allergy risk (pollen exposition, and health impact) and the localisation of the plants with the study of the circadian rhythm. This method, using bihourly pollen counts, is complementary with the local observation which needs many observers with a good formation. This study allowed us to get a map showing the localisation of the ragweed plants of the French territory for years 2006 to 2010, using bihourly counts and the circadian rhythm for different locations. Keywords ragweed, pollen, origin, circadian rythm, bihourly counts 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 121 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia How does common ragweed tolerate insect herbivory? Gard, Benjamin; Bretagnolle, François; Laitung, Béryl Université de Bourgogne, France benjamin.gard@dijon.inra.fr The North American invasive common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., was studied to explore the effect of leaf herbivory on plant reproductive and growth capacities. Plants were defoliated by hand in early summer, simulating different degrees of insect grazing with removing 0%, 50% or 90% of each leaf-limb, one month after transplantation. Six different populations, 3 from the North American native range and 3 from the French invaded range were tested. Root dry weight, shoot dry weight, plant height were measured at the end of the growing season. Root biomass decreased signiicantly by 36% for North American native populations and by 28% for French invasive populations with a higher level of defoliation. Shoot biomass was not signiicantly different following defoliation either for native or for invasive populations. North American native populations had lower shoot and root biomass, but higher shoot:root ratio following defoliation. French invasive populations had a higher stem, higher total biomass, higher number of female lowers and a higher seed production. These indings suggest an eficient reallocation of plant resources in the shoots at the expense of roots following defoliation, which allows Ambrosia artemisiifolia to tolerate herbivory. The results of better reproductive capacity for common ragweed populations in the French introduction area support the concept of increased vigour of invasive species and revealed that French invasive populations are able to better compensate for leaf damage than North American native populations. Keywords Ambrosia artemisiifolia, tolerance, artiicial defoliation, native vs. invasive 122 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Studies on the relevance of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) in seed, birdseed and compost Hackl, Gerald Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Austria gerald.hackl@ages.at Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) is currently spreading in Austria, particularly in the last decade on arable and non arable land. On the occasion of an increasing incidence of common ragweed in Austria a research project was started. Aims of the AGES work package in the area of agriculture were to appraise the relevance of seed, birdseed and compost. AGES as the national authority for seed certiication including ield inspection, laboratory tests and enforcement control of marketed seed lots as well as for feed. That gives possibility to detect ragweed seeds in different samples oficially tested evaluating the risk of a spread of ragweed caused by certiied agricultural seed and birdfeed. Results show that the risk of a spread is low in oficially tested and marketed agricultural seed. To estimate the inluence of feed for wild birds, samples of marketed lots in Austria have been analyzed by AGES too. Results show that 30 % of marketed bird feed for wild birds contains ragweed seeds. Common ragweed´s spread is caused by by several human activities. For example organic waste could contain in some particular cases plants with ragweed seed. Composting of organic waste as one possible channel of distribution was investigated. Possibly destroyed seeds or not in the process of composting could be distributed by application of compost e.g. in organic farming or by fertilizing the production areas of arable land. In this case ragweed- free land is getting contaminated with germinable ragweed- seed. The eficiency of sanitizing organic waste in the process of composting was evaluated with bags containing germinable ragweed seeds in professional composting plants in practice. Keywords Ambrosia, ragweed, seed, birdseed, compost 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 123 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Several years lasting experience in ragweed control in urban settlements on the example of the City of Novi Sad Konstantinovic, Branko (1); Meseldzija, Maja (1); Konstantinovic, Bojan (2) 1: University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture Novi Sad, Serbia 2: Agrimatco Group, Dipkom, Novi Sad, Serbia brankok@polj.uns.ac.rs Seven years lasting ield studies of Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. distribution and mapping on the territory of the city of Novi Sad were performed on regulated, unregulated urban green areas and on arable land. For mapping of ragweed distribution, partially modiied method of Braun-Blanquet was used, and data processing was performed by specially designed program Ambrosia Spot Marker. Monitoring, i.e. abundance and coverage of ragweed after mowing was carried out 2 and 4 weeks after control in order to establish retrovegetation. During vegetation period, this allergenic species was controlled by multiple mowing, and ruderal sites outside settlements were treated by glyphosate at a rate of 1.2–2.4 kg ha-1. The study comprehended also monitoring of pollen concentrations in the air by a Rotorod pollen sampler spore collector. Recommended mechanical measures such as mowing, drilling in the phase of germination, and chemical control measures, led to signiicant reduction of A. artemisiifolia L. in all studied locations. In the second half of August 2009 the highest number of pollen grains was 783 per m3 of air, while in the same period of 2010 it was 500 pollen grains per m3. In 2008 data analysis of diseased infants that had allergic rhinitis revealed only a small number of young patients (383), while their number at the end of 2009 was 393. In the third quarter of 2008 the highest difference in number of infected infants, numbering 32 of them (0.16%) and in 2009 their number increased to 102 (0.50 %). Keywords Ambrosia artemisiifolia, control, Novi Sad, number of pollen grains, allergic rhinitis 124 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Population Genetic analysis of Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) in Europe using DNA – Based Molecular Markers Mátyás, Kinga Klára; Murthy, Vignesh; Mousapour Gorji, Ahmad University of Pannonia, Hungary mkklara@freemail.hu Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., commonly known as Common Ragweed by weed biologists is invasive in Europe, causing important economic and public health damage. The European and North American populations are at high risk of developing allergic reactions due to the pollen from A. artemisiifolia. The present study aims at understanding the genetic diversity/ variability among a population of A. artemisiifolia consisting of 90 genotypes sampled across Hungary and other European countries such as Romania, Serbia, Austria, Germany and France. Genetic diversity is an important component of plant adaptability as it describes the ability of weeds to establish and proliferate in areas and environments which are not native to them. Further genetic diversity can be used to investigate the history of the population as well as its invasion routes into a new environment and may also be useful in predicting the likelihood of its survival and spread. More over this study would lay a platform for future studies pertaining to A. artemisiifolia such as Phylogenetic analysis where other species of Ambrosia would be compared with it using molecular DNA based techniques. Thus for comparing the genetic diversity within the population, a DNA based molecular marker technique called Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) primer was used. SCoT is based on the short conserved region in plant genes surrounding the ATG translation start codon. SCoT is a new technique and has not yet been applied for genetic diversity studies in weeds. Hence 11 different SCoT primers were used to ingerprint the sample population. The banding patterns are evaluated and a dendrogram showing the relationship of the population is constructed. Keywords Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Population Genetic analysis, SCOT-Start Codon Targeted polymorphism, DNA-Based Molecular Markers 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 125 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) in Ticino: development and approaches Rossinelli, Marta; Colombi, Luigi Servizio itosanitario cantonale, Switzerland marta.rossinelli@ti.ch Since 2003 Ambrosia artemisiifolia is considered in Ticino as a problematic plant, because of its allergenic pollen and its high potential of reproduction. The cantonal authorities decided in 2004 to set up a working group (“Gruppo di Lavoro Ambrosia”) aimed to study this invasive plant and to coordinate the strategies for slowing down its spread in the region. Since 2006 A. artemisiifolia is oficially part of the quarantine organisms in Switzerland and since 2007 there are cantonal directives to cope this weed. The main purpose of these efforts is to avoid inlorescences to prevent pollen and seed dispersal. In the last 7 years many strategies have been adopted. First of all, private and public institutions have been sensitized and informed. Second, a mapping and monitoring of old outbreaks, as well as the new ones and the potential ones have been realized. Finally, A. artemisiifolia has been fought by grubbing, frequent cuts or herbicides, depending on the location and the density of plants. During the years the geographical presence of A. artemisiifolia increased in Ticino. There was a general increase of outbreaks, but for each location the trend is a decreasing plant density with time. The past activities showed some positive results. However, the natural and anthropogenic spread of A. artemisiifolia seems not to be slowed down. In the future there should be a better control of soil movements in Ticino, in order to avoid further seed dispersal. Keywords Ambrosia, Common Ragweed, Ticino, development, approaches 126 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Analyzing the content of the main allergen (Amb a1) of ragweed pollen in the air of Poznań (Poland) in 2010 Grewling, Lukasz; Nowak, Malgorzata; Szymanska, Agata; Kostecki, Lukasz Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Biology, Poland curculio13@gmail.com Distribution of ragweed (Ambrosia spp.) in Poland is limited mainly to southeastern part of the country and the last documented inding of ragweed population in Poznań (western Poland) was reported almost 20 years ago. However every year during August and September certain number of Ambrosia pollen is recorded in the air. It has been showed that most of the ragweed pollen arrived at Poznan from a southerly direction (mainly Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary). Second important source of ragweed pollen is located in eastern Poland and Ukraine. It is still not clear how environmental conditions during long distance transport inluence on pollen grains, especially theirs allergenicity. Therefore it was decided to measure and compare pollen and allergen concentrations in the air arrived from distant sources. During 2010 simultaneously with pollen grains monitoring the detection of the main allergen of ragweed pollen (Amb a1) was performed. Pollen were sampled by volumetric spore trap (Lanzoni) and allergens using high-volume cascade impactor (Chemvol). Two fractions of airborne particles were analyzed: >10µm and 10µm–2,5µm. Detection of allergens were performed using immunoenzymatic test (ELISA). Keywords Ambrosia pollen, LTD, Amb a1 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 127 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia A new control method for ighting common ragweed: the dust lux method Déchamp, Chantal (1); Méon, Henriette (1, 2); Farrera, Isabelle (1, 3) 1: Association Française d‘Etude Des Ambroisies: AFEDA, 25 rue A. Paré, 69800 Saint-Priest, France 2: Université Cl. Bernard LYON 1, Bât. Géode, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France 3: SUPAGRO Unité de Palynologie, 900 rue JF Breton 34090 Montpellier, France afeda@wanadoo.fr Municipalities need a control system for assessing the effectiveness of the ight against common ragweed. Saint-Priest’ decision-makers (Rhône, France) wanted to measure their action assessment in different parts of the territory and later, the evolution of this action, the commune being too large for identifying weeds in situ. The dust lux method was developed in 1973 and then used in many countries. The aim of the study is to compare, on 3 different kinds of dirt tracks, the percentages of the main pollen types with the percentages of those of the close atmospheric trap (atmospheric pollen), during the ragweed season and during the week of the dust lux. Our references are the seasonal A pollen counts and pollen counts of the week 38. The nearby atmospheric trap used by AFEDA (Cour’s method) has been running for 29 years at less than 5 kilometres of the samplings sites. We present the irst year of study. On the 22nd of September 2010, dust lux samplings have been conducted on a technical area (near a rural area), a rural area and a town centre area. Results show the proximity of the ragweed pollen percentages of rural areas with those of the trap (total pollen and week 38) and the differences for Gramineae, Plantago and arboreal pollens (except Cedar) whose seasons are inished. Lower ragweed percentages are identiied in the town far from the rural areas. These dust lux samplings will be go on some years. Data of other interested communes will be compared. Keywords dust lux method, new control method, ighting ragweed, Ambrosia pollen, Cour‘s trap 128 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) invasion in Switzerland: dispersal rather than multiple random introductions Gentilini, Eros; Petitpierre, Blaise Departement of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland eros.gentilini@unil.ch; blaise.petitpierre@unil.ch The invasive plant species Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., 1753) has spread in Switzerland over the last decades. Serious health illness (hight fever, asthma) are induced by its pollen and ca. 12% of citizens are subject to ragweed allergy. In heavily infested area in Europe, the annual cost of Common ragweed can be very high. Therefore, ways to anticipate future invasions are desirable. One possible approach to forecast the future is to understand past-to-present invasions. In this study, we tested whether current Ragweed populations are randomly distributed, as a consequence of multiple independent introductions, or whether they show a dispersal gradient pattern from surrounding countries. To answer this, we combined species distribution models, dispersal models and population genetics. Dynamic dispersal scenarios initiated from Geneva and Chiasso are signiicantly more similar to the current distribution than the null model of random appearance. Preliminary population genetics analyses did not show a signiicant structure but more work is needed. These results show that only a dispersal scenario from limited few initial populations located at the Swiss border can explain the spread pattern in Western Switzerland and Ticino. Prioritizing management on these particular populations could be an eficient way to limit the further spread of Common Ragweed in Switzerland. In the future, the approach could be reined with more accurate dispersal parameters and realistic scenarios could then be derived to predict future spread pattern, pollen dispersal or management cost. Keywords Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Common Ragweed, Switzerland, invasive alien species, dispersal, habitat suitability, invasion, niche bases modelling, spread model, specie distribution model 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 129 Abstracts Session 5 The example ambrosia Success of control measures against Ambrosia artemisiifolia in Germany Alberternst, Beate; Nawrath, Stefan Projektgruppe Biodiversität und Landschaftsökologie, Friedberg, Deutschland, Germany b.alberternst@online.de Since 2005 an increased spread of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) is registered in different parts of Germany. By now, federal states in Germany tackle the topic “Ambrosia” in different ways: while some are active and installed control measures, research and monitoring programmes (e.g. Bavaria), others ignore the problem completely. Bavaria is a one of the few federal states in Germany which conducts a comprehensive action programme against common ragweed. Main results from the studies in Bavaria are presented here. Starting in 2006 with 18 known big ragweed (≥100 individuals per stand) stands in Bavaria the number of known stands increased to 189 in the year 2010. In 2007 approximately 60 % of the newly detected ragweed stands were found by private persons, whereas in 2010 the number of announcements by citizens decreased to ca. 20 % due to a decreasing interest of the media. Thus special search for the plant is necessary to detect the ragweed populations. In 2008 control measures against common ragweed in Bavaria were mainly carried out by the landowners on whose ground the plants grew or by the stuff of municipalities. Hand pulling was the most practised control method followed by mulching or mowing. A monitoring programme conducted in order of the Bavarian Ministry for the Environment and Public Health showed that in 2008 in 93.1% of the known big ragweed stands control measures were undertaken. The investigation demonstrated that complete removal of all plants is dificult and was achieved only in 17 % of all cases. Keywords Ambrosia artemisiifolia, success of control, monitoring, activities 130 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 The example ambrosia Abstracts Session 5 Relevance of road margins for the spread of agronomic relevant weeds demonstrated by the example of Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Setaria faberi Nawrath, Stefan; Alberternst, Beate Projektgruppe Biodiversität und Landschaftsökologie, Friedberg, Deutschland, Germany s.nawrath@online.de Habitats aside of roads often provide suitable growing conditions for weeds. Our investigations in Bavaria show that nine of the 16 most common plant species growing at road sides are weeds which usually occur in agricultural ields. Road sides can play an important role in the process of spread for weeds and the plants can enter agricultural ields from here. During the last years Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), originated in North America and Giant foxtail (Setaria faberi) which is native to Eastern Asia have been detected at road sides. Both species can cause agronomic damage and can lead to extra effort and expense during the cultivation of the ields. In 2009 and 2010 the distribution of common ragweed at the margins of federal highways in Bavaria was examined. In addition the distribution of Giant foxtail at the federal highway A94 in Bavaria over a length of 33 km was investigated in 2010. Results of the investigation show, that common ragweed occur at nearly all federal highways in Bavaria. Giant foxtail was found in 35 of the 500m-segments at the road side investigated. To prevent the spread of agronomic/economic relevant weeds at road margins gaps in knowledge of population dynamic, pathways of introduction, and extend and speed of propagation should be closed. Measures to control a new species are most successful in an early phase of spread. Keywords Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Setaria faberi, road sides, spreading routes 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 131 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Oral presentations Keynote The perception and management of invasive plants: Between environmental and social changes Claeys, Cécilia Universite de la Méditerranée, FR cecilia.claeys@univmed.fr The concept of “invasive species” was irst coined by ecologist John Elton in 1958, but only became common in scientiic research in the 1980s. The 1992 Rio Declaration pointed to biological invasions as one of the primary causes of declining biodiversity. However, the concept of biological invasions is not universally accepted among conservation biologists and managers of protected areas. Further, the concept and the controversies which surround it have moved beyond the purely scientiic realm and generated reactions, attempts at appropriation and criticism from, inter alia, users, inhabitants, farmers and consumers. The sociological analysis put forward in this presentation is based on qualitative data gathered from managers, decision-makers, experts and inhabitants in the South of France2, as well as an extensive literature review of international scientiic research. The ways in which the concept of biological invasions is used socially shed new light on the relationship between humankind and nature. Nature is redeined as luctuating; rare in some places, proliferating in others; different today from tomorrow; sometimes threatened, sometimes threatening. Given this, the debate over biological invasions offers a particularly good example of the interpenetration of social and environmental change. The taxonomic debate and the socio-technical controversies related to biological invasions challenge the dichotomous and unidirectional order of humankind’s relationship with nature. Furthermore, the concept of biological invasions has rekindled and revamped the great myths of Western society in which nature and its luctuations are at once a subject of fear and control and subject to idealisation. Keywords invasive plants, Rio, biodiversity, sociology 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 133 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion IASwatch under eyeonearth Uludag, Ahmet; Bruun, Malene EEA, Denmark ahmet.uludag@eea.europa.eu Prevention, early warning and containment are the three steps of invasive alien species (IAS) strategies. Monitoring is one of the key elements of every stage. Improvements in internet and communication technologies (IT) lead involvement of citizens on monitoring and surveillance activities, which are costly. European Environment Agency has initiated citizen science activities by introducing Eye on Earth (EoE) which is an exploratory web-based IT platform for user-friendly, two-way sharing of environmental data and other environmental information with the general public and the scientiic community. Current applications are Airwatch and Waterwatch. There is also the intention to develop other environmental watch activities including invasive alien species watch (IASwatch) under the Naturewatch, which will be started as a pilot project in 2011. The project aims monitoring and surveillance of invasive alien species, supporting policy activities in Europe and targets of Convention on Biological Diversity, and raising awareness in general public. A group of IAS experts has been determined criteria to choose species for IASwatch. However, no organism has been chosen. It is expected that some plants species will be included in the pilot phase and later stages of the project. Keywords environment, europe, iaswatch 134 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Prioritization of alien plants for risk analysis Staringer, Uwe (1); Branquart, Etienne (2); Buholzer, Serge (3); Fried, Guillaume (4); van Valkenburg, Johan (5) 1: Julius Kühn Institute, Germany 2: Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Département d‘Etudes du Milieu Naturel et Agricole 3: Federal Department of Economic Affairs DEA, Agroscope Reckenholz- Tänikon Research Station ART 4: LNPV Station de Montpellier, CBGP 5: Plant Protection Service uwe.staringer@jki.bund.de Invasive alien plants are recognized as a problem of growing importance in Europe as alien plants are still being introduced deliberately or involuntarily. In order to reduce the threats of new plants becoming invasive, risk analysis should generally precede the importation or planting of species. It is also applied to support decisions about eradication or containment measures against invasive plants. For risk assessment, an EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation) pest risk assessment (PRA) scheme is available. The scheme follows the internationally acknowledged IPPC standard. As a full pest risk assessment is a time-consuming task and the candidate species are numerous, a prioritization of alien species for PRA is necessary. As there is no existing widely agreed method to identify those alien plants that are considered invasive and represent the highest priority for pest risk analysis such a prioritization process was developed in the framework of EPPO’s ad hoc Panel on Invasive Alien Species. The process is designed to produce a list of invasive alien plants that are established or could potentially establish in the EPPO region and to determine which of these have the highest priority for PRA. It consists of compiling available information according to pre-determined criteria. We introduce the main principle of the process and show the results of running the process with different sets of example species. Keywords invasive alien plants, EPPO, risk assessment 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 135 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Lists of invasive alien plants – a tool for implementing? Rometsch, Sibylla Schweizerische Kommission für die Erhaltung von Wildplanzen, Switzerland sibylla.rometsch@acw.admin.ch Nowadays, in most countries, including Switzerland, invasive alien species are classiied in lists based on their damage potential. Already in 2004, a group of experts drew up a classiication key allowing the sorting of neophytes in a Black List, a Watch-List or in no list. Based on this key, the Swiss Commission for Wild Plant Conservation, has recently formulated a series of questions concerning the main criteria, like : the potential of invasion, the health risks for human being and animal, the impacts on native species and natural habitats, the impacts on human activities and control measures. The answers should allow an objective and traceable classiication of the species. On this basis, the lists were updated and extended with species not yet established in Switzerland. This system requires detailed knowledge about the species like occurrence, dispersal mechanisms, biology, ecology and ranking in other countries. If these acquirements are available, species can be classiied; if not, gaps are shown up and must be corrected. This instrument is not a substitute for risk assessment studies. The goals of the evaluation scheme are much more in the objectivity and traceability. The lists obtained in this way are useful for information dissemination, support the correct handling of alien species, are a tool for decisions concerning implementation of preventive and control measures, and maintain the legal bases. Due to advances in knowledge and ield experience as well as changes in spread and impacts, the lists have to be reviewed and updated regularly. Keywords Black List, criteria, classiication key 136 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Status of knowledge on invasive species in Mexico: future steps Koleff, Patricia; González Martínez, Ana Isabel; Born-Schmidt, Georgia CONABIO, Mexico dtap@conabio.gob.mx The constant movement of species of fauna and lora across biogeographical boundaries, as a consequence of global trade and communication, has caused the establishment of a number of non-indigenous species in new areas, in which they have become invasive and caused severe damage to ecosystems, productive activities and human health. These species have been recognized as one of the main causes of biodiversity loss, their impacts include damaging vulnerable populations of lora and fauna, altering ecosystem functions and causing loss of environmental services, which eventually causes harm to human well-being and loss of natural assets and wealth. Mexico has been no far from this phenomenon, with a series of high proile cases requiring attention over the last few years. The National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), which acts as an advisory body to the Mexican government, has been required to gather, analyze and provide information regarding the status of the invasive species in the country, in order to support decision making on prevention, control and eradication actions. Since 2007, CONABIO has been developing the National Invasive Species Information System (NISIS), which is a component of the National Biodiversity Information System (NBIS). This work will present the diagnosis of the state of knowledge on invasive species for Mexico as well as its gaps, and suggest possible strategies to move forward in illing those. Keywords Information System, Diagnosis and Analysis, Mexico 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 137 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion AGIN a working group of the cantonal authorities of Switzerland to coordinate their reaction concerning neobiota Fischer, Daniel Canton Zurich, Switzerland daniel.ischer@bd.zh.ch Confronted with increasing number of problems to manage invasive alien species and gaps in the administrative law, the federal government of Switzerland has passed a revision of the Ordinance on the Handling of Organisms in the Environment (Release Ordinance, RO) 2008. Beside the use of pathogenic and genetically modiied organisms this regulation work includes now the ield of the alien species as well. Later the Swiss conference of the heads of the 26 ofices of environment formed a working group (AGIN) to harmonize the execution in the different Kantons. The AGIN irst met in 2009. The group identiied the following goals: To overview the stakeholders, to identify prior problems, to provide a basis for a national strategy for the management of invasive alien species, to coordinate national activities and to exchange know-how. Four subgroups in collaboration with experts and concerned trade unions work intensively on the identiied prior problems. One group develops solutions for the handling with biological contaminated soil (mainly knotweed). A second group works on recommendations to the best method to eradicate the worst species in Switzerland. Another group informs the whole chain of traders of plants. Finally another group works on management strategies to deal with invasive alien animals. Due to the complexity of the involved authorities and of the individual biology of each species success proceed slowly. Yet there are some interesting results to report. Keywords invasive alien species, management, administration, Switzerland 138 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Evolution of prevalence of ragweed pollinosis in Europe: studies or estimations, 1987–2010 Déchamp, Chantal Association Française d‘Etude Des Ambroisies: AFEDA, France afeda@wanadoo.fr In the world, only one study about the relationship between the concentrations of ragweed pollen and the prevalence of ragweed pollinosis was realized, it was in Québec. The question of ragweed pollinosis (with or without asthma) prevalence in Europe is often asked and is dificult. Symptomatology of pollinosis includes a lot of symptoms, rhinitis represents only one of them. There is a lot of publications about ragweed rhinitis or pollinosis but studies about *prevalence* are uncommon. To understand the European situation in a meta-analysis, it is necessary to distinguish different kinds of publications: studies where authors tell about the percentage of ragweed pollinosis, either by comparison with the total number of pollinosis or of respiratory allergies treated in their patient’s departments or evaluations without epidemiological study or hypersensitivity studies or epidemiological studies. We present this meta-analysis where they were published: Central Europe, Switzerland, Northern Italy and the Rhône valley in France. In these countries of the Ancient World, the increase of this allergy is clear. But because of climate change, the weed begins to grow in other countries, we must not wait if we hope to stop this invasion. Epidemiological studies are dificult to do without bias. As now European Union is interested in ragweed subject it would be important to do only prevalence studies in each polluted country with a common protocol. It is necessary to persuade medical experts to do these studies everywhere, even in new polluted areas where this allergy begins to be observed. Keywords Common ragweed, prevalence, pollinosis, asthma, Europe 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 139 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Posters 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 141 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Three tools to manage exotic weeds – a proposal Bohren, Christian Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, Switzerland christian.bohren@acw.admin.ch Information on exotic weed species interfering in agricultural and non agricultural zones is manifold, but is always directed to a certain objective, with a certain background. Many lealets on weeds might appear incomplete to the reader. General guidelines are needed to concentrate inancial and human resources for invasive alien species. Three elements – a collection of weak point sheets for noxious native and invasive alien weed species, a list of costs for control methods and a list of restrictions for use of control methods in environmental zones, the latter adapted to a country – would allow any civil servant in any region to choose adequate control methods. Practical tools on the control of invasive and other noxious plant species are proposed. The irst tool consists in a sheet per plant containing an exact description of the weak points in the life cycle of the species. A collection of sheets would address all species relevant for a certain region or country. The second tool is a list containing details on costs of machines, labour and additional efforts for control methods. This must be adapted to each country situation, and it must be updated regularly. The third tool is a list containing detailed information on restrictions – adapted to a region or country – for the use of herbicides or other control methods in all existing zones such as water surface, water lines, forest, trafic lines, public and private green, agricultural, horticultural, industrial and residential zones, unproductive zones in mountain areas and others. Keywords invasive plants, weed control, information, Solidago, Ambrosia, Cyperus 142 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 The environmental and socioeconomic effects of the invasion of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in Lake Victoria (Kenya). Okumu, Martha Nelima University of Pannonia, Hungary nelmak212@yahoo.com Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), has been in Africa since 1870’s and was reported in Lake Victoria in 1989. Water hyacinth, a member of the pickerelweed family (Pontederiaceae), is native to tropical America. It is an invasive non-native loating perennial with thick, glossy leaves that are obovate to lanceolate with lavender lower spikes. It has posed serious environmental and socioeconomic problems in the use and management of water resources within Lake Victoria in Kenya. Due to lack of natural enemies to check the plant’s growth and the high pollution levels in the lake, the plant quickly spread to attain a peak infestation of 17,200 ha by 1998. Over the years, the weed has continued to proliferate, forming extensive loating mats that cause disruption in irrigation canals, navigation and ishing activities. It has reduced the supply of clean potable water and has provided breeding grounds for schistosome (bilharzia)-carrying snails and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The cost of its infestation is estimated to be of the order of millions of Kenya shillings. Reportedly, it has also increased disputes between local communities and reduced tourism. Lake Victoria is becoming more eutrophic, and this might have been a factor in the successful invasion of the weed as it has a high nutrient requirement. Management methods include use of herbicides, physical control by hand pulling and biological control by use of Neochetina weevils. However, these management methods will remain an integral part of a community-based, multi-sectoral water hyacinth management programme. Keywords Water hyacinth, invasion, socioeconomic effects 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 143 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Identiication and prioritization of invasive alien plants “hotspot” areas in Gauteng, South Africa. Kganye, Modise South African National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa M.Kganye@sanbi.org.za Understanding the potential distribution ranges of emerging invaders in South Africa aims to Facilitate identiication of those emerging invaders with the greatest potential to expand their ranges in southern Africa. This will allow protected area managers to focus action and monitoring efforts on the area‘s most vulnerable to invasion. Research is needed to understand, monitor, and model parameters that may be Favorable to invasions, as examined climatic conditions, ecosystem disturbance patterns, and land use changes. Baseline research is needed to Determine if a species is „new“ to and from area to detect changes in pathways. Scientiically sound information is essential to support detection programs. This study was conducted in Gauteng. Information from the Southern African Plant Invaders Atlas database, National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment data as well as reviewing information on permits issued for introduction of plants in South Africa Which combined to create a comprehensive list of invasive alien plants in Gauteng. Information in the new list was veriied and or added to through selective ield surveys. The distribution information was mapped using GIS and Turboveg to identify the „hotspot“ areas and potential distribution of invasive alien plant species in Gauteng. Even though some results are still pending this study is the beginning of the development of a scientiically sound information database for the early detection of invasive alien plant species. 144 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Mexican strategy for invasive alien species: a irst step to coordinate activities among different sectors González Martínez, Ana Isabel; Koleff, Patricia; Born-Schmidt, Georgia CONABIO, Mexico especiesinvasoras@conabio.gob.mx Even if Mexico has a well established legal and technical framework to manage pests and quarantine procedures for plants, the structure of the environmental legislation is somewhat different. Environmental legislation has provided only general guidelines to regulate the problem of invasive alien species (IAS) so far. To address this gap the National Law for Environmental Protection and the General Law of Wildlife were recently modiied to include the issue. This is a irst important step however, further modiications will be necessary in the near future to address the problem in a more comprehensive way. Consistent with the situation of the regulation deicits, actions against IAS have been isolated with focus on impacts on agriculture particularly on pests of crops. The National Strategy for alien invasive species developed by the Ministry of Environment tries to overcome this scattered approach with the objective to contribute to the conservation of the natural capital and human wellbeing through actions oriented towards prevention, control and eradication of IAS. It is designed to align and coordinate the efforts of a broad range of governmental agencies and stakeholders; one of the main issues that will be addressed by this strategy concerns the challenges posed by terrestrial and aquatic invasive weeds which constitute 70% of the IAS registered for the country. Advances have been made regarding the development of priorities to establish a National Weed Management Strategy. The publication of the National IAS strategy for Mexico provides a solid framework to convert these identiied priorities into actions. Keywords Legislation, Collaboration, Weed Strategy, Mexico 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 145 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Distribution of invasive alien woody plant species in Hungary Tiborcz, Viktor; Zagyvai, Gergely; Korda, Márton; Schmidt, Dávid; Csiszár, Ágnes; Šporčić, Dean; Teleki, Balázs; Bartha, Dénes University of West Hungary, Faculty of Forestry, Hungary tibvik@emk.nyme.hu The mapping of the Hungarian lora in the whole country has done within the framework of the Mapping of the Hungarian Flora Programme as a part of the project “Mapping of the Central European Flora”. The surveyors completed a Quadrant Data Sheet which contains all the species observed in grid cells and also illed out an Invasion Data Sheet which shows the occurrence of all invasive plants, the expanding of invasive species and to enable the documentation of further characteristic of these species. Semi-natural and valuable treeless habitats are dangered by the spreading of invasive woody plants. In woody associations the expansion of invasive species canopy, shrub layer, and the big biomass quantity of its roots has strong allelopathy and competitive effect on other plants. Invasive woody species transform eficiently the ecology of habitats than the invasive herbaceous plants. Analyzing the current distribution of invasive woody plants is indispensable requirement of nature protection work. In this study we mapped some species has already spread in large areas which are the followings: black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima [Mill.] Swingle), common hackberry (Celtis occidentalis L.), Russian olive (Eleagnus angustifolia L.) and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.). We can conclude from these maps, which regions are dangered in the close future by these invasive plants. Keywords invasive alien woody plants, distribution map, habitat preference, Hungarian Flora Programme 146 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Progress on DAISIE: ALIEN species inventories in Europe updated Pergl, Jan (1,2); Nentwig, Wolfgang (1); Pyšek, Petr (2) 1: Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Switzerland 2: Institute of Botany, Pruhonice, Czech Republic pergl@ibot.cas.cz In Europe, a unique alien species inventory with more than 11,000 alien species has been produced by the DAISIE project (DAISIE 2009). First analyses based on DAISIE data revealed alarming trends of increasing numbers of newly naturalized species across all groups of organisms. These data also enabled us to analyse the socio-economic aspects of invasions at European scale, the habitat-speciic invasion patterns on the level of individual taxon groups, and the increasing loss of European uniqueness due to invasions of alien and extinctions of native species. The strength of such an inventory is its completeness in terms of a wide range of organisms covered; however, for obvious reasons such amount of data requires regular updates should it not be soon outdated. The ALIEN project (Analysing Large-scale Invasion patterns using European Inventories - Update and Analysis of European Database of Alien Species; supported by CRUS-SCIEX) was initiated in 2010 to keep the DAISIE database up-todate, by including additional species lists from some understudied regions of Europe where regional lists of aliens started to be developed during the DAISIE project. The ALIEN project has three main goals: (1) updating the DAISIE database by using new regional species inventories, (2) populating the database with information on selected species traits, and (3) analysing the updated database, with focus on the role of species traits and their residence times in determining the distribution patterns and invasion success of alien plants and animals in Europe. Keywords DAISIE, alien inventories, Europe 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 147 Abstracts Session 6 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Towards a strategy in Ticino Joss, Ueli Gruppo di lavoro neobiota del Cantone Ticino, Switzerland ulrich.joss@ti.ch The Canton of Ticino is heavily concerned with neophytes and other foreign organisms. This is due to its geograpic and climatic situation, a long tradition with tourism, and transportation facilities connecting southern with norther Europe accross the Canton. A working group of the local authorities is in charge to propose a strategy to implement the federal Ordinance of 10 September 2008 on the Handling of Organisms in the Environment (Release Ordinance, RO). The presentation (or a poster) will give an overview on the local situation, the legal frame, what has been done so far and the probable next steps. Keywords Strategy, Ticino, impact, response 148 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 Impacts to and answers from human society versus plant invasion Abstracts Session 6 Introduction and agro economic value of Galega orientalis Lam. Balezentiene, Ligita Lithuanian university of agriculture, Lithuania ligitaba@gmail.com Fodder galega (Galega orientalis Lam.) is native species of Caucasus forested slopes and river valleys belonging to the family of Fabaceae. It is especially valuable perennial and productive crop with unique chemical composition galega, thus, is a very promising crop in Lithuania and in other countries with similar geo-climatic conditions. Sound adaptability to growing conditions is characteristic to fodder galega. It can grow in all types of soil except in the waterlogged ones. Nonetheless, galega is more resistant to high water-level than lucerne. Due to important biological properties of galega it can be used for socio-ecological proposes, namely to improve soil fertility by accumulating nitrogen; enriching with organic matter and increasing the amount of humus; to decrease soil permeability, erosion; and for soil preservation. Galega is excellent quality forage for all kinds of livestock and poultry. Duration of seed maturity lasts only for 102–112 days at accumulated temperatures of 1800 C (41.9 MJ m-2). Due to productivity, ability to grow for a long time (>20 yrs) in the same place and fast re-growth in spring, seed ripening and high resistance to pest this crop successfully surpasses traditional leguminous fodder crops in temperate climate. Galega show allelopathic activity as a natural protection. Biological peculiarities of this useful deliberately introduced species were found to possess good adaptive ability and are potentially signiicant for naturalization. Nonetheless, galega has not spread or establish itself in natural habitat and plant communities during introduction period of more than 30 years in Lithuania. Keywords Galega, introduction, agro economic value 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Weeds and Invasive Plants, Ascona, 2011 149 Detailed map of Ascona