RESEARCH PAPER
Alien vascular
plants established in forests of Poland
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1
Katedra Botaniki Leśnej, Uniwersytet
Przyrodniczy w Poznaniu, ul. Wojska Polskiego 71 D, 60-625 Poznań, Polska
2
Instytut Biologii Środowiskowej, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, ul. Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wrocław,
Polska
3
Katedra Botaniki i Ochrony Przyrody, Uniwersytet Śląski, ul. Jagiellońska 28,
40-032 Katowice, Polska
Online publication date: 2020-12-30
Publication date: 2020-12-30
Fragm. Flor. et Geobot. Pol. 2020; XXVII(2): 451-471
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The forest environment is considered to be more resistant to penetration by alien plant
species than other terrestrial environments, which generally are significantly modified by humans.
A major environmental threat to vegetation is posed by alien species that are capable of spontaneous
expansion in natural or semi-natural communities, and above all in forests. This paper
presents a naturalization scale of alien vascular plants in forests of Poland, based on knowledge
of species classified as naturalized elements of the Polish flora. Using the research results and
observations of other authors, as well as literature data, a list of 180 taxa of such plants was
compiled. The classification uses the following categories: life form, systematic affiliation, and
origin or status in the Polish flora. The analysis revealed that not all of the considered alien species
showed an ability to penetrate forest communities and that only a few of them have developed
stable populations in the best-preserved natural and semi-natural phytocoenoses. About 20% of
the anthropophytes found in forest communities strongly affect the composition and structure of
the forest phytocoenoses.