Sewage Pollution Promotes the Invasion-Related Traits of Impatiens glandulifera in an Oligotrophic Habitat of the Sharr Mountain (Western Balkans).

ABSTRACT: An annual plant, Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera Royle) is globally widespread and one of Europe's top invaders. We focused on two questions: does this species indeed not invade the southern areas and does the environment affect some of its key invisibility traits. In an isolated model mountainous valley, we jointly analyzed the soil (21 parameters), the life history traits of the invader (height, stem diameter, aboveground dw), and the resident vegetation (species composition and abundances, Ellenberg indicator values), and supplemented it with local knowledge (semi-structured interviews). Uncontrolled discharge of fecal wastewaters directly into the local dense hydrological network fostered mass infestation of an atypical habitat. The phenotypic plasticity of the measured invasi

SUBMITTER: Stanojevic M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8708665 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature