Abstract

ECHAVEZ-P, Kristinne; QUINTERO-PERTUZ, Irma  and  CARBONO-DELAHOZ, Eduino. Analysis of the risk of invasion of exotic weeds associated with banana crops in the department of Magdalena, Colombia. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2022, vol.46, n.178, pp.154-164.  Epub Sep 07, 2023. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.1520.

Invasive plants are considered the second cause of biodiversity loss after habitat destruction. It is necessary to prevent the establishment of new populations of these plants to avoid negative impacts on the productivity and biodiversity of ecosystems in general. For the early detection of potentially risky weeds, we proposed to identify the introduced species associated with banana crops in the department of Magdalena and categorize their invasion risk. To this end, we reviewed inventories of flora associated with this crop and we confirmed their origin through the available literature. The species confirmed as introduced (31) were subjected to risk analysis to determine their establishment and invasion capacity with the I3N tool, which is based on 28 questions grouped into three categories: risk of establishment, potential impact, and difficulty of control. The sum of the scores for each question defined the risk indicator associated with each species as follows: values between 5.01 and 10.0: high invasion risk; between 3.01 and 4.50: moderate risk; between 1.0 and 3.0: low risk, and between 4.56 and 5.0: further analysis required. We categorized 24 species as having high risk of invasion, three as moderate risk, and four as requiring further analysis whereas no species were categorized as low risk. We present here the first records of 19 species at high risk of invasion in Colombia. This information can be useful for the prevention, management, and control of these weeds and to avoid their spread and invasion into other surrounding ecosystems. However, it is necessary to evaluate their potential distribution.

Keywords : Biodiversity; Biological invasions; Invasiveness; Exotic plants.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )