Lower Biodiversity

Changes soil chemistry (nutrients, toxins, allelopathic influences, alters pH) Ehrenfeld et al. 2001

Negative Impacts on native animals and pollinators DeBerry & Hunter 2024 Impacts of Invasive Plants on Native Vegetation Communities in Wetland and Stream Mitigation

Disruption of food chains

Invasive Shrubs inhibit Native Tree Regeneration (succession) Gorchov & Trisel 2003.  Plant Ecology 166: 13-24

Suppression of native herbaceous plants (succession)

Reduced leaf litter (alters fuel load which impacts ability to have a controlled burn)

Increases erosion, causing sedimentation

Hybridization with native species (e.g. cattails)

Robins and Thrushes nest in native hawthorns and viburnums. Buckthorn & Honeysuckle leaf out earlier which attracts birds sooner

The buthorns and honeysuckles are shorter than hawthorns so birds build nests are lower to the ground. Buckthorn and Honeysuckle also lack big thorns.

The net result is that the birds suffer increased predation by raccoons and “other marauders”

“By documenting increased nest predation in songbirds nesting in exotic shrubs, our results suggest that restoring native plant communities may benefit the surrounding avian community”

Credit: Effects of Exotic Lonicera and Rhamnus on Songbird Nest Predation KENNETH A. SCHMIDT*‡ AND CHRISTOPHER J. WHELAN†