Sporobolus cryptandrus in Hungary
Sporobolus cryptandrus (Poaceae) is an invasive C4 grass species native to North America (United States, Southern Canada and Northern Mexico). The species is drought tolerant and often grows on dry sandy soils. In the EPPO region, S. cryptandrus is reported as occurring in isolated populations in a number of countries (e.g. Austria, France, Germany, Russia). In Hungary, S. cryptandrus was first recorded near the city of Győr in the 1920s. In 2016, several small populations of S. cryptandrus were discovered in two sandy regions of Hungary, in the city of Debrecen (Nyírség region) and near the town Kiskunhalas (Kiskunság region). Further surveys recorded 620 individual locations in central and east Hungary with most locations in the Kiskunság region. Within these locations, S. cryptandrus is recorded in a number of different habitats including urban areas (car parks, road verges, and tramlines), disturbed or degraded areas of open sand grassland, ploughed fire buffer zones, old field sites of various ages and species composition, grassland used for livestock feeding and, the species was recorded encroaching into natural open sandy grassland. The authors show that in invaded areas S. cryptandrus can have a negative impact on the species richness and abundance of native vegetation. S. cryptandrus can produce an abundance of small seeds (up to 10 000 seeds per panicle) which can form a persistent seed bank (over 3 000 seeds per m2). This facilitates establishment of the species in new areas and complicates the control of the species as the seed bank will need to be exhausted to achieve successful control.
Sources
Török P, Schmidt D, Bátori Z, Aradi E, Kelemen A, Hábenczyus AA, Diaz CP, Tölgyesi C, Pál RW, Balogh N, Tóth E, Matus G, Táborská J, Sramkó G, Laczkó L, Jordán S, Sonkoly J (2021) Sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) – a new pest in Eurasian sand areas? BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.05.451115