Alien Species of Lepidium in the Flora of Romania: Invasion History and Habitat Preference

Authors

  • Culiță SÎRBU University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iasi, Faculty of Agriculture, 3, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iași (RO)
  • Adrian OPREA University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Botanical Garden, 7-9, Dumbrava Rosie Street, 700487, Iași (RO)
  • Cristian Valeriu PATRICHE Romanian Academy, Department of Iași, Geography Group, B-dul Carol I, 8, 700505, Iași (RO)
  • Costel SAMUIL University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iași, Faculty of Agriculture, 3, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iași (RO)
  • Vasile VÎNTU University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iași, Faculty of Agriculture, 3, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iași (RO)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha4219420

Abstract

The history of spread and habitat preferences during invasion of four alien species of Lepidium in Romania, namely L. densiflorum, L. oblongum, L. sativum, and L. virginicum are presented in this paper. The floristic records of these species, collected between 1816 and 2013, were used in the study. L. sativum was sporadically mentioned by earlier botanic references, as a casual alien plant in ruderal places. L. oblongum was reported from a single locality, but it may be considered a potential invader of ruderal habitats from southern regions. For L. densiflorum and L. virginicum, distribution maps were made in the Universal Transverse Mercator system, and exponential regression models were fitted to the cumulative number of records against time. Both L. densiflorum and L. virginicum are invasive in Romania, and their spread was initiated at the middle of last century. The slope of invasion curves, which was used as a measure of the invasion rate, did not differ significantly between the two invasive species. Although both L. densiflorum and L. virginicum were first reported in the North-West of the country, they followed different paths of migration in Romania. Ruderal habitats associated with railways played an important role in the invasion process of both species, but invaded habitats became more diversified over the time. Among the four species, only L. densiflorum tends to invade agricultural crops.

Author Biographies

Culiță SÎRBU, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iasi, Faculty of Agriculture, 3, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iași

Assoc. Prof., PhD, Faculty of Agriculture; Discipline: Botany

Adrian OPREA, University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Botanical Garden, 7-9, Dumbrava Rosie Street, 700487, Iași

Principal biologist, Ph D Botanical Garden

Cristian Valeriu PATRICHE, Romanian Academy, Department of Iași, Geography Group, B-dul Carol I, 8, 700505, Iași

Prof., PhD, Faculty of Agriculture, Disciplines: Pasturelands and fodder plants culture; Ecology and environement protection

Costel SAMUIL, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iași, Faculty of Agriculture, 3, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iași

Assoc. Prof., PhD, Faculty of Agriculture, Disciplines: Fodder Processing and Preserving Technology

Vasile VÎNTU, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iași, Faculty of Agriculture, 3, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iași

Research scientist 3rd degree, PhD Geography Group

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Published

2014-06-03

How to Cite

SÎRBU, C., OPREA, A., PATRICHE, C. V., SAMUIL, C., & VÎNTU, V. (2014). Alien Species of Lepidium in the Flora of Romania: Invasion History and Habitat Preference. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 42(1), 239–247. https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha4219420

Issue

Section

Research Articles
CITATION
DOI: 10.15835/nbha4219420

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