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Invasive alien plants in Croatia - situation and vision ten years later

Ten years ago there were no organized efforts in plant invaders inventory or appropriate actions in Croatia. The first national project on invasive flora was performed in 2006 and was the beginning of more organized work on invasive alien plants in Croatia. Since then national standards, criteria, and terminology (harmonized with European standards for alien flora treatment) were adopted, and a preliminary list of invasive alien plants in Croatia was prepared. Furthermore, the new module “Allochthonous Plants” of the Flora Croatica Database (http://hirc.botanic.hr/fcd/InvazivneVrste/Sear ch.aspx) was developed, as a platform for national monitoring and mapping of alien/invasive plants. According to our current knowledge, in Croatia we have 74 invasive alien plants, most of them terrestrial. At least one invasive alien plant was detected on 49% of the state territory (57, 000 km2 ). The greatest number of invasive plants was recorded in the major urban centres, increasing in the south- east direction and the most endangered are Mediterranean areas. Only eight freshwater alien plants were reported, out of them six are invasive (Azolla cristata, A. filiculoides, Elodea canadensis, E. nuttallii, Paspalum distichum and P.dilatatum). Their current status, impacts and other available data will be briefly discussed. Additional problem for freshwater ecosystems in Croatia is the fact that some native plants (e.g. Hippuris vulgaris) in specific circumstances show great invasiveness. The success of a decade of intensive work is reflected in better collaboration of botanists, ecologists, agronomists, foresters, policy makers, experts in the national institutions responsible for nature protection and legislation on invasive alien species etc., to gain more success in solving the complex problem of invasive plants. However, there are still a lot of “gaps” - no organized and documented monitoring, eradication actions, prevention measures etc. Nevertheless, results from the continuous ten- year work on invasive alien plants in Croatia should provide a reliable national and regional framework for strategic planning regarding the IAS management.

Croatia, invasive alien plants, freshwater alien plants, Flora Croatica Database

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