Living with floating vegetation invasions

authored by

Fritz Kleinschroth, R. Scott Winton, Elisa Calamita, Fabian Niggemann, Martina Botter, Bernhard Wehrli, Jaboury Ghazoul

Abstract

Invasions of water bodies by floating vegetation, including water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), are a huge global problem for fisheries, hydropower generation, and transportation. We analyzed floating plant coverage on 20 reservoirs across the world’s tropics and subtropics, using > 30 year time-series of LANDSAT remote-sensing imagery. Despite decades of costly weed control, floating invasion severity is increasing. Floating plant coverage correlates with expanding urban land cover in catchments, implicating urban nutrient sources as plausible drivers. Floating vegetation invasions have undeniable societal costs, but also provide benefits. Water hyacinths efficiently absorb nutrients from eutrophic waters, mitigating nutrient pollution problems. When washed up on shores, plants may become compost, increasing soil fertility. The biomass is increasingly used as a renewable biofuel. We propose a more nuanced perspective on these invasions moving away from futile eradication attempts towards an ecosystem management strategy that minimizes negative impacts while integrating potential social and environmental benefits.

External Organisation(s)

ETH Zurich
Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)
VISTA Remote Sensing in Geosciences GmbH
Utrecht University
University of Edinburgh

Type

Article

Journal

AMBIO

Volume

50

Pages

125-137

No. of pages

13

ISSN

0044-7447

Publication date

01.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development, Environmental Chemistry, Ecology

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01360-6 (Access: Open)