Prunus cerasifera occurrence in a temperate primeval forest
In the EPPO region, Prunus cerasifera (Rosaceae) is native to some countries (e.g. Bulgaria, Greece, Romania) and is an economically important plant, both for its fruit and as an ornamental species. However, in Poland, P. cerasifera is considered an invasive alien plant in some areas, in particular in forest environments. A study was conducted in the Strict Reserve of the Białowieża National Park located in North-East Poland. An area which has been protected from human impacts since 1921. P. cerasifera has been recorded in the national park since the 1960s with a recent increase in the abundance of the species on abandoned farmland. To address two aspects (1) whether the ecological success of P. cerasifera depends on the distance from the propagule source and (2) whether its success is influenced by understory vegetation characteristics of a recipient forest, plant occurrence parameters and habitat variables were modelled. The results of the model showed that within the reserve, the probability of P. cerasifera occurrence decreased with increasing distance from the propagule source; reaching about 30 % at a distance of > 400 m. This is different to outside the reserve where 75 % of P. cerasifera occurrence is predicted to be at a distance of 1.2 km from the source population. These differences may be explained by large mammals feeding on the fruit outside the national park. In the reserve, the occurrence of P. cerasifera was related to high species richness in the understory. This may be due to the higher level of disturbance and canopy gap formations compared to species poor understory vegetation.
Sources
Czortek P, Adamowski W, Kamionka-Kanclerska K, Karpińska O, Zalewski A, Dyderski MK (2023) Patterns of Prunus cerasifera early invasion stages into a temperate primeval forest. Biological Invasions. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03188-z