Projecting the optimal control strategy on invasive plants combining effects of herbivores and native plants resistance

TL;DR

This study presents a spatial modeling framework to evaluate how native plant resistance and control strategies, including herbivores and biocontrol agents, can effectively limit invasive plant spread, emphasizing the importance of application frequency and area coverage.

Contribution

It introduces a novel spatial model integrating native resistance and control effects, providing insights into optimal invasive plant management strategies.

Findings

Strong biocontrol effects combined with high native resistance nearly stop invasion.

High application frequency is crucial for effective control.

Wider, weaker treatments outperform small, stronger interventions.

Abstract

Understanding how to limit biological invasion is critical, especially in the context of accelerating anthropogenic ecological changes. Although biological invasion success could be explained by the lack of natural enemies in new regions, recent studies have revealed that resident herbivores often do have a substantial effect on both native and invasive plants. Very few studies have included consideration of native plant resistance while estimating methods of controlling invasion; hence, it is unclear to what extent the interactive effects of controlling approaches and native plants' resistance could slow down or even inhibit biological invasion. We developed a spatial modeling framework, using a paired logistic equation model, with considerations of the dispersal processes, to capture the dynamics change of native and invasive plants under various strategies of control. We found that when biocontrol agents could have a strong effect on invasive plant, that could almost completely limit the invasion, together with a high native plant resistance. However, a high application frequency is needed make an efficient impact, whereas, a low frequency treatment leads to nearly the same outcome as the no treatment case. Lastly, we showed that evenly controlling a larger area with a weaker effect still lead to a better outcome than focusing on small patches with a stronger effect. Overall, this study has some management implications, such as how to determine the optimal allocation strategy.