A living inventory of planted trees in South Africa derived from iNaturalist

作者：David M. Richardson, Luke J. Potgieter · 发表于：South African Journal of Botany · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.sajb.2024.08.006 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Forest ecology and management、Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies

• South Africa has a long history of introduction of trees from other parts of the world, starting with introductions in the mid-17th century. • Planted trees (both native and non-native) now dominate treescapes in many part of the country, especially in urban ecosystems. • Although planted trees are a key component of South Africa's green infrastructure and provide diverse ecosystem services, no up-date list of planted tree species exists. • This study used the citizen science platform iNaturalist to compile a spatially-explicit “living inventory” of planted tree species for South Africa. • The planted tree flora of South Africa comprises over 35,000 records of 805 taxa, 79 % of which are non-native. Over a third these taxa belong to three families: Fabaceae, Myrtaceae and Arecaceae. • Examples are provided of uses of the inventory for managing diverse aspects of South Africa's treescapes, including for monitoring the emergence of new invasions. Trees have a multifaceted influence on ecosystems globally. Treescapes have been manipulated by humans over millennia for ecological, economic, and cultural reasons that have changed over time and continue to change. In South Africa tree planting over three centuries has radically affected the composition of treescapes, contributing important ecosystem services, but also disservices. Rapid global change calls for diverse interventions to create more resilient ecosystems. Many nature-based solutions involve manipulating tree cover in ...