European invader outcompetes Canadian plants outside usual temperature range

Seed Daily: Dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum) is an exotic plant originating from the Ukraine and southeastern Russia that is becoming increasingly invasive in southern Ontario, Canada.

It has been found growing successfully in both disturbed and undisturbed areas, in open fields, forest edges and understories, parks, road edges and railway embankments.

The invasive plant effectively competes for light by forming large and dense stands that climb over other plants. A study published in the open access, peer-reviewed journal NeoBiota explores the effects of V. rossicum invasion in Canada.

Apart from displacing local plant species, among the ecological effects of a possible V. rossicum invasion are endangered populations of local soil organisms and pollinator species.

Another concern is the dog strangling vine's good adaptability to and possible invasion of the alvar environment in the region, which for the Ontario is a rare kind of habitat supporting a number of important habitat-specific species....

Vincetoxicum rossicum, shot by Epibase, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license