TY -JOUR
AU -Shan-Huah Wu
AU -T. Y. Aleck Yang
AU -Yung-Ching Teng
AU -Chih-Yuan Chang
AU -Kuoh-Cheng Yang and Chang-Fu Hsieh
TI -Insights of the Latest Naturalized Flora of Taiwan: Change in the Past Eight Years
PY -2010
DA -2010-06-15
JO -Taiwania
VL -55
IS -2
SP -139
EP -159
UR -https://taiwania.ntu.edu.tw/abstract/1129
AB -Naturalized flora of Taiwan has been increasing in the past six after the first catalogue was compiled in 2002. In order to probe into the increasing pattern behind this dramatic growth of potential invaders, we compiled and evaluated newly added naturalized species in a quest for better understanding. Furthermore, naturalized species shared with neighboring regions, such as Mainland China and Japan, were estimated as well. The results revealed that two-thirds of these newly recruited species naturalized before 2002, and only 77 actually naturalized after 2002. The proportion of naturalized flora in the native species pool increased from 8% to 12%. The compositions, origins, and life forms of these potential invaders before and after 2002 were similar with slight fluctuations presented in the ranks of the dominant families. Number of species shared with neighboring regions multiplied due to the fast growth of the naturalized flora in Taiwan; nevertheless, the number might be understated due to the inaccessibility of the latest naturalized floras from neighboring regions. The doubled flora of naturalized species in the past six years implies insufficient attention to plant invasions and lag phases of invasion. The expansion of naturalized flora in Taiwan also increased the pools of naturalized species shared with neighboring areas, including Mainland China and Japan.
DO -10.6165/tai.2010.55(2).139