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Pragmatism required to assess impacts of invasive plants
Author(s) -
Hulme Philip E,
Pyšek Petr,
Pergl Jan,
Schaffner Urs,
Vilà Montserrat
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/14.wb.003
Subject(s) - czech , library science , ecology , geography , biology , philosophy , linguistics , computer science
© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org regimes. Thus a single integrative metric based on different inputs cannot be used to objectively compare different species where the focal questions regarding outcomes are different. Second, researchers are unlikely to have the resources or opportunity to assess between 10 and 20 impact measures. Up to now, 75% of studies quantifying the effects of alien plants have examined fewer than three impact measures and less than 1% have assessed more than five (Hulme et al. 2013). Of course, researchers could estimate more measures, but these would have to not only be uncorrelated (rarely the case for the most common soil or community-based measures) but also be pertinent to the question being examined (eg a study assessing the effects on pollinator effectiveness would not be informed by token measures of soil pH). Ecologists too often target a small, unrepresentative subset of alien plants; there are benefits to broadening studies to other species and ecosystems rather than Pragmatism required to assess impacts of invasive plants