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6.1 Status of Old-Forest Vascular Plants
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Status of Non-native Vascular Plants

In this section we present a list of non-native vascular plant species detected in Norbord's operating areas, including per cent occurrence and a map of predicted relative richness.

The number of non-native vascular plant species detected was:

Northern Operating Area: 6 species

Southern Operating Area: 28 species

Non-native species occurred less frequently in the Northern Operating Area where they were detected at 26.5% of sites compared to in the Southern Operating Area where they were detected at 63.2% of sites.

image Photo: Mitsu

Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale/erythrospermum)

image Photo: Siddharth Patel

Alsike Clover (Trifolium hybridum)

image Photo: Steve Chilton

Perennial Sow Thistle (Sonchus arvensis)

image Photo: Milada

Ox Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)

Introduction

Non-native plants are those species that have been introduced, intentionally or otherwise, into new areas beyond their natural range. While non-native plants are not a current threat to native biodiversity in boreal and montane forests, given the right conditions, they could become a bigger management challenge. For example:

  • Some non-native plant species, like the Creeping Thistle and Narrow-leaved Hawksbeard, can interfere with tree regeneration after fire or forest harvesting[1].
  • As human activities such as forestry and oil and gas development increase in northern Alberta, creating favourable environmental conditions for weeds to establish and spread, non-native species like these could become more of a concern. 
  • Early action is the most effective way of managing non-native species before serious impacts have occurred.

The ABMI's monitoring data are a means to assess the current distribution of non-native species and detect trends in their distribution over time, serving as an early warning signal of potential risks to native biodiversity.

Occurrence and species richness are summarized for non-native plant species in Norbord’s operating areas.

image Photo: Jean Mottershead

Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

Results

Non-native plants

The number of unique non-native vascular plant species detected in Norbord's operating areas was:

Northern Operating Area

6 species

Southern Operating Area

28 species

Partner Operating Area

5 species

2018 Highlights

  • Non-native species occurred less frequently in the Northern Operating Area where they were detected at 26.5% of sites compared to in the Southern Operating Area where they were detected at 63.2% of sites.
  • At sites where non-native plants were found, 1.9 and 5.4 non-native species were detected on average in the Northern and Southern Operating Area, respectively. 
  • In the Northern Operating Area, non-native species occurred infrequently. Common Dandelion was the most abundant non-native plant, occurring at 11.8% of ABMI sites followed by Perennial Sow Thistle (8.8%), Awnless Brome (5.9%), Common Groundsel (5.9%), Common Plantain (5.9%), and Hemp Nettle (2.9%).
  • In the Southern Operating Area, Common Dandelion was also the most abundant non-native plant, occurring at 57.9% of sites, followed by Timothy (31.6%), Awnless Brome (31.1%), Red Clover (26.3%), and Alsike Clover (26.3%).
  • Ox Eye Daisy is listed under the Alberta Weed Control Act as Noxious and was detected at 5.3% of sites in the Southern Operating Area.

Several of the non-native species that were detected in the Southern Operating Area are cultivated as hay and forage crops in agricultural settings, including Alsike Clover.
Photo: Patrick Barks

Legend
Figure: Non-native Plant Richness. The predicted relative richness of non-native vascular plant species in the Northern Operating Area, Southern Operating Area, and Partner Operating Area. Blue indicates areas where non-native species richness is predicted to be low or absent, and red indicates areas predicted to have high species richness. Zoom into the map for a detailed view of species richness in each area.
Table: Non-native Plant Occurence. Per cent occurrence of non-native vascular plants at ABMI sites in the Northern and Southern Operating Areas. Species listed as Noxious Weeds under the Alberta Weed Control Act are also identified. Note that the order of non-native plants is sorted by per cent occurrence in the Southern Operating Area, which has more detections.
Image Common Name Scientific Name Northern Occurrence (%) Southern Occurrence (%) Status

References

1.

Sanderson, L.A., J.A. McLaughlin, and P.M. Antunes. 2012. The last great forest: a review of the status of invasive species in the North American boreal forest. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research 85(3):329-340.

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