Climate change amplifies plant invasion hotspots in Nepal

Article


Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Shrestha, Bharat Babu. 2019. "Climate change amplifies plant invasion hotspots in Nepal." Diversity and Distributions. 25, pp. 1599-1612. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.27257r3.
Article Title

Climate change amplifies plant invasion hotspots in Nepal

ERA Journal ID3225
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsShrestha, Uttam Babu (Author) and Shrestha, Bharat Babu (Author)
Journal TitleDiversity and Distributions
Journal Citation25, pp. 1599-1612
Number of Pages14
Year2019
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN1366-9516
1472-4642
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.27257r3.
Web Address (URL)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14724642
Abstract


Aim

Climate change has increased the risk of biological invasions, particularly by increasing the climatically suitable regions for invasive alien species. The distribution of many native and invasive species has been predicted to change under future climate. We performed species distribution modelling of invasive alien plants (IAPs) to identify hotspots under current and future climate scenarios in Nepal, a country ranked among the most vulnerable countries to biological invasions and climate change in the world.
Location

Nepal.
Methods

We predicted climatically suitable niches of 24 out of the total 26 reported IAPs in Nepal under current and future climate (2050 for RCP 6.0) using an ensemble of species distribution models. We also conducted hotspot analysis to highlight the geographic hotspots for IAPs in different climatic zones, land cover, ecoregions, physiography and federal states.
Results

Under future climate, climatically suitable regions for 75% of IAPs will expand in contrast to a contraction of the climatically suitable regions for the remaining 25% of the IAPs. A high proportion of the modelled suitable niches of IAPs occurred on agricultural lands followed by forests. In aggregation, both extent and intensity (invasion hotspots) of the climatically suitable regions for IAPs will increase in Nepal under future climate scenarios. The invasion hotspots will expand towards the high‐elevation mountainous regions. In these regions, land use is rapidly transforming due to the development of infrastructure and expansion of tourism and trade.
Main conclusions

Negative impacts on livelihood, biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as economic loss caused by IAPs in the future, may be amplified if preventive and control measures are not immediately initiated. Therefore, the management of IAPs in Nepal should account for the vulnerability of climate change‐induced biological invasions into new areas, primarily in the mountains.

KeywordsInvasive species, Nepal,Climate change
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020310305. Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)
410406. Natural resource management
410401. Conservation and biodiversity
410404. Environmental management
Byline AffiliationsInstitute for Life Sciences and the Environment
Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
Permalink -

https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q5504/climate-change-amplifies-plant-invasion-hotspots-in-nepal

Download files


Published Version
Shrestha_2019_PV.pdf
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Anyone

  • 178
    total views
  • 101
    total downloads
  • 5
    views this month
  • 1
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Temporal changes in precipitation and temperature and their implications on the streamflow of Rosi River, Central Nepal
Dahal, Ngamindra, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Tuitui, Anita and Ojha, Hement Raj. 2019. "Temporal changes in precipitation and temperature and their implications on the streamflow of Rosi River, Central Nepal." Climate. 7 (1), pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7010003
Ecosystems, livelihood assets and willingness to pay for wetland conservation in Bangladesh
Al‑Amin, A. K. M. Abdullah, Alam, Khorshed, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Prodhan, Masudul Haque, Hossain, Mostafa A. R., Sattar, Nahid, Hossain, M. J. and Akhter, Tahmina. 2021. "Ecosystems, livelihood assets and willingness to pay for wetland conservation in Bangladesh." Environment, Development and Sustainability: a multidisciplinary approach to the theory and practice of sustainable development. 23 (12), pp. 17503-17534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01398-w
Multiple conceptualizations of nature are key to inclusivity and legitimacy in global environmental governance
Coscieme, Luca, Silva Hyldmo, Hakon da, Fernandez-Llamazares, Álvaro, Palomo, Ignacio, Mwampamba, Tuyeni H., Selomane, Odirilwe, Sitas, Nadia, Jaureguiberry, Pedro, Takahashi, Yasuo, Lim, Michelle, Barral, Maria P., Farinaci, Juliana S., Diaz-Jose, Julio, Ghosh, Sonali, Ojino, Joyce, Alassaf, Amani, Baatuuwie, Bernard N., Balint, Lenke, Basher, Zeenatul, ..., Valle, Mireia. 2020. "Multiple conceptualizations of nature are key to inclusivity and legitimacy in global environmental governance." Environmental Science and Policy. 104, pp. 36-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.10.018
When parasitism brings prosperity: a case of Yarsagunbu (caterpillar fungus) harvesting and trade in Nepal
Shrestha, Uttam Babu. 2019. "When parasitism brings prosperity: a case of Yarsagunbu (caterpillar fungus) harvesting and trade in Nepal." Studies in Nepali history and society. 24 (2), pp. 415-431.
Key knowledge gaps to achieve global sustainability goals
Mastrangelo, Matias E., Perez-Harguindeguy, Natalia, Enrico, Lucas, Bennett, Elena, Lavorel, Sandra, Cumming, Graeme S., Abeygunawardane, Dilini, Amarilla, Leonardo D., Burkhard, Benjamin, Egoh, Benis N., Frishkoff, Luke, Galetto, Leonardo, Huber, Sibyl, Karp, Daniel S., Ke, Alison, Kowaljow, Esteban, Kronenburg-Garcia, Angela, Locatelli, Bruno, Martin-Lopez, Berta, ..., Zoeller, Kim. 2019. "Key knowledge gaps to achieve global sustainability goals." Nature Sustainability. 2 (12), pp. 1115-1121. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0412-1
Increasing tiger mortality in Nepal: a bump in the road?
Bhandari, Shivish, Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Aryal, Achyut. 2019. "Increasing tiger mortality in Nepal: a bump in the road?" Biodiversity and Conservation. 28 (14), pp. 4115-4118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01849-x
Yartsagunbu: transforming people's livelihoods in the Western Himalaya
Yadav, Pramod Kumar, Saha, Subhajit, Mishra, Ashish Kumar, Kapoor, Mohnish, Kaneria, Manendra, Kaneria, Manish, Dasgupta, Sabyasachi and Shrestha, Uttam Babu. 2019. "Yartsagunbu: transforming people's livelihoods in the Western Himalaya." Oryx: journal of fauna and flora international. 53 (2), pp. 247-255. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000674
Science in South Asia
Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Bhadra, Anindita. 2019. "Science in South Asia." Science. 364 (6447), p. 1211. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay4475
Climate change in Nepal: a comprehensive analysis of instrumental data and people’s perceptions
Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Shrestha, Asheshwor Man, Aryal, Suman, Shrestha, Sujata, Gautam, Madhu Sudan and Ojha, Hemant. 2019. "Climate change in Nepal: a comprehensive analysis of instrumental data and people’s perceptions." Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 154 (3-4), pp. 315-334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02418-5
Environmental and economic impacts and trade-offs from simultaneous management of soil constraints, nitrogen and water
Kodur, Shreevatsa, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Maraseni, Tek Narayan and Deo, Ravinesh C.. 2019. "Environmental and economic impacts and trade-offs from simultaneous management of soil constraints, nitrogen and water." Journal of Cleaner Production. 222, pp. 960-970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.079
Decreasing brown bear (Ursus arctos) habitat due to climate change in Central Asia and the Asian Highlands
Su, Junhu, Aryal, Achyut, Hegab, Ibrahim M., Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Coogan, Sean C. P., Dalannast, Munkhnast, Sathyakumar, Sambandam, Dou, Zhigang, Suo, Yila, Dabu, Xilite, Fu, Hongyan, Wu, Liji and Ji, Weihong. 2018. "Decreasing brown bear (Ursus arctos) habitat due to climate change in Central Asia and the Asian Highlands." Ecology and Evolution. 8 (23), pp. 11887-11899. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4645
Community perception and prioritization of invasive alien plants in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape, Nepal
Shrestha, Bharat Babu, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Sharma, Krishna Prasad, Thapa-Parajuli, Resham Bahadur, Devkota, Anjana and Siwakoti, Mohan. 2019. "Community perception and prioritization of invasive alien plants in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape, Nepal." Journal of Environmental Management. 229, pp. 38-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.06.034
Potential impact of climate change on the distribution of six invasive alien plants in Nepal
Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Sharma, Krishna Prasad, Devkota, Anjana, Siwakoti, Mohan and Shrestha, Bharat Babu. 2018. "Potential impact of climate change on the distribution of six invasive alien plants in Nepal." Ecological Indicators. 95 (1), pp. 99-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.07.009
Socio-economic factors and management regimes as drivers of tree cover change in Nepal
Shrestha, Sujata, Shrestha, Uttam B. and Bawa, Kamal. 2018. "Socio-economic factors and management regimes as drivers of tree cover change in Nepal." PEERJ. 6, pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4855
Early-career experts essential for planetary sustainability
Lim, Michelle, Lynch, Abigail J., Fernandez-Llamazares, Alvaro, Balint, Lanke, Basher, Zeenatul, Chan, Ivis, Jaureguiberry, Pedro, Mohamed, A. A. A., Mwampamba, Tuyeni H., Palomo, Ignacio, Pliscoff, Patricio, Salimov, Rashad A., Samako, Aibek, Selomane, Odirilwe, Shrestha, Uttam B. and Sidorovich, Anna A.. 2017. "Early-career experts essential for planetary sustainability." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 29, pp. 151-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.02.004
Biodiversity, drug discovery, and the future of global health: Introducing the biodiversity to biomedicine consortium, a call to action
Neergheen-Bhujun, Vidushi, Awan, Almas Taj, Baran, Yusuf, Bunnefeld, Nils, Chan, Kit, Cruz, Thomas Edison dela, Egamberdieva, Dilfuza, Elsässer, Simon, Johnson, Mari-Vaughn V., Komai, Shoji, Konevega, Andrey L., Malone, John H., Mason, Paul, Nguon, Rothsophal, Piper, Ross, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Pešić, Milica and Kagansky, Alexander. 2017. "Biodiversity, drug discovery, and the future of global health: Introducing the biodiversity to biomedicine consortium, a call to action." Journal of Global Health. 7 (2), pp. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.07.020304
Contribution of REDD+ payments to the economy of rural households in Nepal
Shrestha, Sujata, Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Bawa, Kamaljit S.. 2017. "Contribution of REDD+ payments to the economy of rural households in Nepal." Applied Geography. 88, pp. 151-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.09.001
Perceptions of climate change by highland communities in the Nepal Himalaya
Uprety, Yadav, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Rokaya, Maan Bahadur, Shrestha, Sujata, Chaudhary, Ram Prasad, Thakali, Ajaya, Cockfield, Geoff and Asselin, Hugo. 2017. "Perceptions of climate change by highland communities in the Nepal Himalaya." Climate and Development. 9 (7), pp. 649-661. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2017.1304886
Economic dependence of mountain communities on Chinese caterpillar fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis (yarsagumba: a case from western Nepal
Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Dhital, Krishna Ram and Gautam, Ambika Prasad. 2019. "Economic dependence of mountain communities on Chinese caterpillar fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis (yarsagumba: a case from western Nepal." Oryx: journal of fauna and flora international. 53 (2), pp. 256-264. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605317000461
Beyond money: does REDD+ payment enhance household’s participation in forest governance and management in Nepal’s community forests?
Shrestha, Sujata and Shrestha, Uttam Babu. 2017. "Beyond money: does REDD+ payment enhance household’s participation in forest governance and management in Nepal’s community forests?" Forest Policy and Economics. 80, pp. 63-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.03.005
Horizontal integration of multiple institutions: solutions for Yarshagumba related conflict in the Himalayan region of Nepal?
Pant, Basant, Rai, Rajesh Kumar, Wallrapp, Corinna, Ghate, Rucha, Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Ram, Ashok. 2017. "Horizontal integration of multiple institutions: solutions for Yarshagumba related conflict in the Himalayan region of Nepal?" International Journal of the Commons. 11 (1), pp. 464-486. https://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.717
Global lessons from successful rhinoceros conservation in Nepal
Aryal, Achyut, Acharya, Krishna Prasad, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Dhakal, Maheshwar, Raubenhiemer, David and Wright, Wendy. 2017. "Global lessons from successful rhinoceros conservation in Nepal." Conservation Biology. 31 (6), pp. 1494-1497. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12894
Assessments of ecosystem service indicators and stakeholder's willingness to pay for selected ecosystem services in the Chure region of Nepal
Bhandari, Pratima, KC, Mohan, Shrestha, Sujata, Aryal, Achyut and Shrestha, Uttam Babu. 2016. "Assessments of ecosystem service indicators and stakeholder's willingness to pay for selected ecosystem services in the Chure region of Nepal." Applied Geography. 69, pp. 25-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2016.02.003
Predicting the distributions of predator (snow leopard) and prey (blue sheep) under climate change in the Himalaya
Aryal, Achyut, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Ji, Weihong, Ale, Som B., Shrestha, Sujata, Ingty, Tenzing, Maraseni, Tek, Cockfield, Geoff and Raubenheimer, David. 2016. "Predicting the distributions of predator (snow leopard) and prey (blue sheep) under climate change in the Himalaya." Ecology and Evolution. 6 (12), pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2196
Factor people into tiger conservation
Aryal, Achyut, Ji, Weihong, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Bencini, Roberta and Raubenheimer, David. 2015. "Factor people into tiger conservation." Nature. 522 (287). https://doi.org/10.1038/522287a
Disaster response: volunteers, unite!
Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Shrestha, Sujata and Aryal, Achyut. 2015. "Disaster response: volunteers, unite!" Science. 349 (6249), pp. 699-700. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.349.6249.699-b
Is trophy hunting of bharal (blue sheep) and Himalayan tahr contributing to their conservation in Nepal?
Aryal, Achyut, Dhakal, Maheshwar, Panthi, Saroj, Yadav, Bhupendra Prasad, Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Bencini, Roberta, Raubenheimer, David and Ji, Weihong. 2015. "Is trophy hunting of bharal (blue sheep) and Himalayan tahr contributing to their conservation in Nepal?" Hystrix. 26 (2). https://doi.org/10.4404/hystrix-26.2-11210
Harvesters’ perceptions of population status and conservation of Chinese caterpillar fungus in the Dolpa region of Nepal
Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Bawa, Kamaljit S.. 2015. "Harvesters’ perceptions of population status and conservation of Chinese caterpillar fungus in the Dolpa region of Nepal." Regional Environmental Change. 15 (8), pp. 1731-1741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-014-0732-7
Chasing Chinese caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) harvesters in the Himalayas: harvesting practice and its conservation implications in western Nepal
Shrestha, Uttam Babu, Shrestha, Sujata, Ghimire, Shivaraj, Nepali, Kamal and Shrestha, Bharat Babu. 2014. "Chasing Chinese caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) harvesters in the Himalayas: harvesting practice and its conservation implications in western Nepal." Society and Natural Resources. 27 (12), pp. 1242-1256. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2014.928394
Impact of climate change on potential distribution of Chinese caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) in Nepal Himalaya
Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Bawa, Kamaljit S.. 2014. "Impact of climate change on potential distribution of Chinese caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) in Nepal Himalaya." PLoS One. 9 (9), p. e106405. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106405
Economic contribution of Chinese caterpillar fungus to the livelihoods of mountain communities in Nepal
Shrestha, Uttam Babu and Bawa, Kamaljit S.. 2014. "Economic contribution of Chinese caterpillar fungus to the livelihoods of mountain communities in Nepal." Biological Conservation. 177, pp. 194-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.06.019