Invasive alien plants along waterways in Serbia
The colonization of invasive alien plants has strongly affected European riparian areas over the past decades. The Danube Basin area is characterized by high levels of invasion and, in addition to the basin of the Po River, it has one of the highest level of occurence of invasive alien plants in Europe. The total length of all waterways in Serbia is 65 980 km. All rivers in Serbia belong to three main drainage basins. The Danube catchment area, belonging to the Black Sea drainage basin, covers 92.5% of the territory, the Adriatic Sea drainage basin occupies 5.4% of the territory and the Aegean Sea drainage basin covers 2.2% of the total area of Serbia. Surveys were conducted between 2013-2016 (July to September) in 250 field sites covering all river catchments in Serbia. Table 1 presents 25 of the most frequently identified invasive alien plants along waterways in Serbia.
Table 1. 25 frequently identified invasive alien plants along waterways in Serbia.
Species | Family | Form | Native range |
Abutilon theophrasti | Malvaceae | Annual herb | Asia |
Acer negundo | Sapindaceae | Tree | N. America |
Ailanthus altissima* | Simaroubaceae | Tree | Asia |
Amaranthus retroflexus | Amaranthaceae | Annual herb | N. America |
Ambrosia artemisiifolia* | Asteraceae | Annual herb | N. America |
Amorpha fruticosa* | Fabaceae | Deciduous shrub | N. America |
Asclepias syriaca* | Apocynaceae | Rhizomatous perennial | N. America |
Broussonetia papyrifera** | Rosales | Tree | Asia |
Datura stramonium | Solanaceae | Perennial shrub | C. and S. America |
Echinochloa crus-galli | Poaceae | Annual grass | Asia |
Echinocystis lobata | Cucurbitales | Annual vine | N. America |
Eleusine indica | Poaceae | Annual grass | Asia/Africa |
Erigeron annuus | Asteraceae | Annual herb | N. America |
Erigeron canadensis | Asteraceae | Annual herb | N. America |
Fraxinus pennsylvanica | Oleaceae | Tree | N. America |
Helianthus tuberosus* | Asteraceae | Perennial herb | N. America |
Parthenocissus quinquefolia* | Vitaceae | Perennial vine | N. America |
Paspalum distichum | Poaceae | Annual grass | Americas |
Phytolacca americana | Phytolaccaceae | Perennial herb | N. America |
Fallopia ×bohemica* | Polygonaceae | Rhizomatous perennial | |
Robinia pseudoacacia | Fabaceae | Tree | N. America |
Solidago gigantea* | Asteraceae | Rhizomatous perennial | N. America |
Sorghum halepense | Poaceae | Annual grass | Africa/Asia |
Symphyotrichum spp. | Asteraceae | Annual herb | N. America |
Xanthium orientale subsp. italicum | Asteraceae | Annual herb | C. and S. America |
* EPPO List of Invasive Alien Plants; ** EPPO Observation List
Sources
Anđelković AA, Pavlović DM, Marisavljević DP, Živković MM, Novković MZ, Popović SS, Cvijanović DL, Radulović SB (2022) Plant invasions in riparian areas of the Middle Danube Basin in Serbia. NeoBiota 71, 23–48.