Effects of the Invasive Tree Species Ailanthus altissima on the Floral Diversity and Soil Properties in the Pannonian Region

András Demeter, Dénes Saláta, Eszter Tormáné Kovács, Orsolya Szirmai, Petra Trenyik, Sarolta Meinhardt, Katalin Rusvai, Krisztina Verbényiné Neumann, Balázs Schermann, Zsófia Szegleti and Szilárd Czóbel
Additional contact information
András Demeter: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Dénes Saláta: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Eszter Tormáné Kovács: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Orsolya Szirmai: Institute of Animal Sciences and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Szeged, Andrássy Street 15, H-6800 Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary
Petra Trenyik: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Sarolta Meinhardt: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Katalin Rusvai: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Krisztina Verbényiné Neumann: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Balázs Schermann: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Zsófia Szegleti: Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly Street 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Szilárd Czóbel: Institute of Plant Sciences and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Szeged, Andrássy Street 15, H-6800 Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Tree-of-heaven ( Ailanthus altissima ) is one of the most dangerous and widespread invasive woody plant species in Europe. Despite the fact that A. altissima is in the focus of an increasing number of research projects, the impact of its mass spread on native vegetation, its diversity, and changes in soil quality are still incomplete. The current study addresses the effects of this invasive species on plant diversity and soil parameters simultaneously. The main objective of our research is to determine the impact of cover and mass of A. altissima on the diversity of each forest layer; the examined soil parameters and on other selected environmental variables. For botanical and pedological investigations we selected nine A. altissima -dominated sites in Central Europe, in the Pannonian Biogeographical Region. Based on our results, it can be stated that fully grown A. altissima -dominated stands can displace other taxa by their shading and allelopathy, thereby reducing canopy layer diversity. The increase in the species richness of the shrub layer had a positive correlation with the diversity of the floor layer and also with the humus and ammonia content of the soil. As the diversity of shrub layer and floor layer positively correlated with many soil parameters, the diverse vegetation of these layers can represent a potential opportunity for the regeneration of areas infected with A. altissima .

Keywords: tree-of-heaven; forest layers; abundance; diversity indices; soil quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/11/1155/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/11/1155/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:11:p:1155-:d:667690

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().