Influence of some environmental factors on the distribution of the invasive species Aster lanceolatus Willd. in various serbian habitats

Abstract

In European countries, in natural and semi-natural ecosystems, the invasiveness of species Aster lanceolatus is recognized as great problem for biodiversity conservation. In order to detect the basic floristic differentiation at the level of analyzed habitats and associations, ordinary CA was applied. Hierarchical cluster analysis (UPMGA) and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) were used for exploring the floristic relationships among researched habitats and communities. SIMPER analysis determined percentage of average dissimilarity of species pool of compeering associations. DCA analysis was conducted with the aim of length gradient determination as a base for selection of unimodal ordination. Ordinary CCA was used in order to detect distribution site score of investigated sites related to the explanatory variables, and to establish their impact on ordination score results. Comparative analysis of floristic composition has shown differentiation into five habitat groups. The more detailed level of the corresponding analysis at association level shows homogenization of associations where Aster lanceolatus is an edificatory species, separating them from the others where it is a koinobiont. The variability of habitats was caused by variation in two negatively correlated environmental factors: pH of soil and altitude. The other environmental factors have shown a significantly smaller influence on variability of final score.