Records of species establishing outside of their native range continue to rise worldwide, with many regions accumulating a diverse and dynamic community of non-native plants. Invasion biologists now recognize that threats not only arise from a handful of well-known “bad apples”, but also from new invaders with little invasive history. This trend introduces enormous complexity into management decisions: given our limited funds, which species should be prioritized? I conduct multi-species analyses to understand the factors that influence non-native plant establishment and success, and how to evaluate future risks.
Most recently, I’ve been working to understand the spread of fire-promoting invasive grasses in Hawaii and whether their ranges might expand with climate change.
From Brock and Daehler (2021). Naturalization of plants in Hawaii from 1900 to 2020, showing: A) accumulation of all species, alongside events in Hawai‘i’s history that may potentially affect naturalization rates, B) accumulation of all species, categorized by their likely introduction pathway. C-F show changes in real gross domestic product (in 2019-adjusted US$1M), human population, tourists, and acres of productive farmland in Hawai‘i over time, each with y-axis units divided by 100
Brock KC, Daehler CC (2021) Plant naturalization trends reflect socio-economic history and show a high likelihood of inter-island spread in Hawai‘i. Invasive Plant Science and Management. https://doi.org/10.1017/inp.2021.18
Bernard J, Brock KC, Tonnell V, Walsh SK, Wenger JP, Wolkis D, Weiblen GD (2020) New species assemblages disrupt obligatory mutualisms between figs and their pollinators. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8: 564653. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.564653
Brock KC, Daehler CC (In press) Island Plant Invasions. In: Global Plant Invasions, Eds. Clements DR, Joshi S, Upadhyaya M, and Shrestha A. Springer Nature, Basingstoke, UK.
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