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A comprehensive guide to wetland weeds covering both native and introduced species.

Aquatic weeds. --- Invasive plants.

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The impetus for the development of this Field Guide came about as a result of pleas from the community around the village of Doldol, Laikipia County, to initiate a control programme for Australian prickly pear [Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw.; Fabaceae], an invasive plant which was having a dramatic impact on livelihoods. However, a number of other exotic plants, which were less widespread, but had the potential of becoming invasive, were not seen as a potential problem. In order to avoid a similar situation from arising in the future, the community expressed a need for a Field Guide, which would include descriptions of naturalized and invasive species already present in, and those that were most likely to invade Laikipia County and, information on how best to manage them. An additional impetus was to contribute to the four main objectives of the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Management of Invasive Species in Kenya's Protected Areas. The Field Guide contributes in some or other way to all of these objectives which are to (i) Enhance awareness of invasive species to relevant actors; (ii) Prevent new invasions, manage established invasions and rehabilitate degraded habitats; (iii) Enhance research, monitoring and information management on invasive species; and (iv) Enhance capacity, resource mobilization and coordination. Extensive surveys revealed the presence of a number of introduced plant species which had escaped cultivation and established populations in the 'wild' to the detriment of natural resources and the people that depend on them. Introduced succulents, especially those in the genus Opuntia (Cactaceae), were found to be the most widespread and abundant invasive species in the semi-arid regions in the north and east of Laikipia County. Other succulents, those in the genus Bryophyllum (Crassulaceae), were also found to have escaped cultivation and were locally abundant. In the higher rainfall areas to the west and southwest, introduced trees such as black wattle (Acacia mearnsii De Wild.; Fabaceae) and Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon R. Br.; Fabaceae) and the shrubs/climbers, Mauritius thorn [Caesalpinia decapetala (Roth) Alston; Fabaceae] and yellow cestrum (Cestrum aurantiacum Lindl.; Solanaceae), were invasive. Introduced plants, which have the potential to become problematic in Laikipia, unless eradicated or controlled, have also been included in the Guide. This includes species such as famine weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.; Asteraceae) and 'mathenge' [Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.; Fabaceae], which are already abundant in areas adjoining the County.

Invasive plants. --- Plant introduction. --- Weeds.

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The invasion of ecosystems by alien species is a key driver of global environmental change and many invasive plant species attain sufficiently high abundance to alter the structure and function of an ecosystem. This book is the first publication to explain the reasons as to why some alien species undergo a profound shift in their ecological fortune from being minor components of their native ecosystems to becoming devastating dominants of non-native habitats. The book assesses the ecological, morphological, functional and genetic factors that contribute to invasion success.

Introduced organisms. --- Invasive plants --- Molecular biology. --- Plant ecology. --- Genetics.

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Exotic invasive plant species pose a serious threat to native biodiversity. Invasive plants transmogrify the landscape ecology in a highly complex manner leading to a sort of ecological explosion. Global terrestrials as well as aquatic ecosystems are invaded by various invasive plant species. Invasive species are alien species whose introduction and spread threatens ecosystems, habitats or species with socio-cultural, economic and/or environmental harm, and also poses a risk to human health. The present book aims to provide a critical review on the mechanisms, impact and management of invasive

Plant invasions. --- Invasive plants --- Plant invaders --- Alien plants --- Plant invasions --- Biological invasions --- Plant succession --- Ecology. --- Control.

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Includes our current knowledge of the invasion or encroachment and cause of population growth and spread of some dry land, arid zone woody legumes. Community structure, population growth, and competition of these woody legumes will also be examined. These species and ecosystems are both extensive and dynamic. They occur worldwide, but mainly in the arid zones of the tropics and sub-tropics. The cause of the growth and spread of these species and communities has long been claimed to be caused by distal factors rather than proximal ones. However, these species appear to be influenced and perhaps controlled by anthropogenic factors, specifically grazing and fire or lack of fire. Their overall worldwide distribution has probably changed little in the recent past, but their populations have expanded into grasslands and their density has increased in many places. Some associated communities have shown dramatic changes in response to recent large-scale droughts and the loss of most of the dominant overstory species. However, changes in the woody legume communities and their species are generally unknown.

Nature protection --- General ecology and biosociology --- Biology --- systematische plantkunde --- landschapsecologie --- biologie --- ecologie --- Invasive plants. --- Legumes.