Impacts of non-native trees on multiple ecosystem services: A worldwide review

CASTRO DIEZ, PILAR; GODOY, OSCAR; VAZ, A. SOFIA; ALONSO, ÁLVARO; APONTE, CRISTINA; BAYÓN, ÁLVARO; BELLINGHAM, PETER; CARDOSO SILVA, MATEUS; CHIUFFO, MARIANA C.; DIMANNO, NICOLE; JULIAN, KAHUA; KANDERT, SUSANNE; LA PORTA, NICOLA; MARCHANTE, HÉLIA; MAULE, HAMISH; MAYFIELD, MARGARET M.; METCALFE, DANIEL; MONTEVERDI, M. CRISTINA; NUÑEZ, MARTIN A.; OSTERTAG, REBECCA; PARKER, INGRID; PELTZER, DUANE; POTGIETER, LUKE; RAYMUNDO, MAIA; RAYOME, DONNIE; REISMAN-BERMAN, ORNA; RICHARDSON, DAVID M.; ROOS, RUBEN; SALDAÑA, ASUNCIÓN; SHACKLETON, ROSS; SILVA, JOAQUIM S.; TORRES, AGOSTINA; TRUDGEN, MELINDA; URBAN, JOSEF; VAN LOO, MARCELA; VICENTE, JOANA R; VILÀ, MONTSERRAT; YLIOJA, TIINA; ZENNI, RAFAEL

Lisboa

Conferencia; International Conference on Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions; 2018

Tree species highly contribute to the ability of ecosystems to provide services that are critical for human well-being. Many non-native trees (NNT) have been worldwide planted e.g. for timber, fodder, erosion control, shade, and aesthetics; yet, they also have undesired effects on related ecosystem services such as water supply, soil fertility or cultural heritage. Benefits and harms may be brought about by NNT in plantations, or after escaped to the wild as invaders. Objective knowledge of the pros and cons of NNT on multiple services is therefore needed to make informed management and conservation decisions. Here, we conducted a worldwide assessment of NNT?s effects on the supply of multiple ecosystem services based on information published in scientific literature, in country-level economic/forestry reports, and in on-line social media. Grounded on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, we covered supporting and regulating (SRES), provisioning (PES), and cultural services (CES). NNT positively contributed to several SRES, such as climate regulation, soil erosion control, and soil formation. Yet, they also negatively contributed to fire regulation, with no trends found for water and pollution regulation, and pollination. At a global scale, NT and NNT showed a similar contribution to PES related to timber production, but NNT provided slightly less unique non-timber products (e.g. pollen, honey, cork) than NT. Lastly, NNT contributed positively to CES related to aesthetics, cultural heritage, and touristic attraction, but negatively to people?s leisure in nature and scientific interest. No trends were found for inspiration and pollen allergenicity. Overall, our results show disparate effects of NNT on multiple ecosystem services, leading to potential conflicts when managing these species. We provide worldwide information that allows managing such conflicts considering the country-level and environmental characteristics. We stress that decisions on NNT management should rely on the simultaneous assessment of multiple ecosystem services.