Published December 1, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Distribution of four alien plants in Tyumen Region (Western Siberia): contribution of citizen science and expert data

  • 1. Tyumen State University; Joint Directorate of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve and National Park "Smolny"
  • 2. Tyumen State University
  • 3. Tyumen State University; Botanical Garden, Ural Branch of RAS

Description

Biological invasions represent a highly important research field in modern plant biology. They could serve as dangerous processes that threaten natural ecosystems. The distribution patterns of alien plants serve as a basis for the development of biological invasion management plans and counteraction to them. Tyumen Region is situated in the south of West Siberia. This area is one of the least studied in Russia in terms of alien plant composition and distribution. This study aimed to demonstrate the current distribution of some alien plants in the Tyumen Region, namely Echinocystis lobata, Impatiens glandulifera, Heracleum sosnowskyi and Calystegia sepium subsp. americana (C. inflata). We compared their distribution within the entire Tyumen Region and the Tyumen Urban Area. The study was based on two data types, including expert (observations of professional, graduated, botanists, herbarium specimens, publications) and citizen science (observations made by amateur naturalists presented in the platform iNaturalist) data. To visualise the alien plant distribution, we used two grid mapping schemes, including 10×10 km cells for Tyumen Region and 1×1 km cells for Tyumen Urban Area. We found that in the Tyumen Region, Heracleum sosnowskyi occurs in nine grid cells (37 expert data records and 12 citizen science data), Echinocystis lobata in 17 grid cells (70 expert data records and five citizen science data records), Impatiens glandulifera in 15 grid cells (123 expert data records and nine citizen science data records) and Calystegia sepium subsp. americana in 20 grid cells (43 expert data records and five citizen science data records). We demonstrate the significant differences ( p<0.05) in number of alien plant records between the territories of inside and outside of the Tyumen Urban Area. We suppose a further increase in the number of records of these alien plant species in the Tyumen Region provided by intense botanical investigations. We propose the need of similar studies in relation to other alien plants in the Tyumen Region.

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