A review on global ferns invasions: mechanisms, management and control

Abstract

There has been paucity of information and inadequate studies on the invasive potentials of ferns as most invasive ecological studies have so far focused on higher plants across the continents. This paper therefore, reviews ferns invasions, mechanisms of invasions and management of invasive ferns that have been reported in literatures. We searched four databases including Jstor, Science direct, Willey online library and Scopus for relevant literature between 1990 – 2018. A total of seventy articles reporting ferns invasions in various countries in six continents were harvested. Eighteen ferns reported to be invasive across the world include Lygodium microphyllum, Lygodium japonicum, Azolla pinnata, Pteridium arachnoideum, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, Thelypteris noveboracensis, Pityrogramma calomelanos, Azolla filiculoides, Acrostichum spp, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, Dryopteris carthusiana, Dryopteris intermedia, Polystichum acrostichoides, Cyclosorus afer, Sphaeropteris cooperi, Angiopteris evecta, Salvinia molesta and Pteridium aquilinum. Most of these ferns were reported to have invaded parts of North America than other continents. Prevalent mechanisms of invasion for these ferns include their polyploidy nature, ability to disperse spores for long distance, allelopathy, adaptation to disturbed areas and unfavourable environmental conditions. It was suggested that using biological approaches which enable ecological succession and ecosystem restoration is preferable to other methods of controlling these invasive ferns.

Keyword: control, Cyclosorus, ecology, ferns, invasion, Pteridium