Thesis Abstract: Impacts of Environmental Weed Invasion on Arthropod Biodiversity and Associated Community Structure and Processes

摘要

Invasive exotic species frequently change natural patterns of biodiversity. This study investigated the effects of one of Australia's most serious environmental weeds, bridal creeper (Asparagus asparagoides), in remnant eucalypt woodland in South Australia. Research considered the impact of bridal creeper on different taxa and trophic groups (plants, arthropods and parasitic Hymenoptera), high-level (orders and families) and low-level (species) taxonomic assemblages, and ecological processes (parasitism and pollination). The impact of bridal creeper on the native plant community was overwhelmingly detrimental, undoubtedly due to direct interactions with the weed such as shading and root competition. It was predicted therefore, that the replacement of a species-rich and open ground-cover by a closed homogenous one would have flow-on effects to other biota in the habitat.