Linking migration flows with the prevalence of exotic plant species in the Andes

GONZÁLEZ MV; MONTTI L.; JIMENEZ YG; ARAOZ E.

Mountain Research and Development

International Mountain Society and the United Nations University.

Año: 2024

0276-4741

Human mobility and connectivity between cities are key features of globalization that foster urban expansion, landscape transformations and changes in species distributions. Andean ecosystems, which function as biodiversity reservoirs, are known to be vulnerable to environmental changes and to the introduction of exotic species.Through this study we assess the association of migratory flows and other socio-environmental characteristics with the prevalence of exotic woody species in the Andean region. We collected data on urban and demographic dynamics, migration proxies and topographic and climate indicators for every first order administrative unit (AU) of Andean region. We used global biodiversity databases to obtain occurrence records of woody plants, and we estimated the proportion of exotic species records in each AU. We performed multiple regression models that assessed the association of this prevalence with socio-environmental information and we compared them through their AICs. We obtained 2 462 168 records of native species and 891 579 records of exotic species. Topography, climate and immigration wereincluded in all of the best 10 models suggesting that social connectivity of AU (through immigration) are drivers of changes in species composition of local communities. We consider that the prevalence of exotic species in woody plant composition is highly influenced by cultural drivers through the introduction of exotic species and through their use in urban and periurban environments.