Skip to main content
SLU:s publikationsdatabas (SLUpub)

Sammanfattning

Invasive species pose a significant threat to biodiversity, with domestic gardens being one of the primary introduction pathways for invasive terrestrial plants. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate biological invasions in the northern regions of the globe. Despite their ecological importance, private domestic gardens remain understudied in invasion biology research. This thesis examines invasive plant species in Swedish domestic gardens, combining ecological inventories with investigations of garden owners’ knowledge, values, and management practices, with the aim of developing evidence-based guidelines for communicating with domestic garden owners about invasive species. Methods vary from field inventories, expert workshops, semi-structured interviews and a postal survey disseminated to garden owners in three diverse bioclimatic areas of Sweden. The results from a garden case study revealed that domestic gardens can contain a great diversity of species. They showed high compositional uniqueness and no correlation between the number of invasive species and garden size. A postal survey, directed at garden owners in the biosphere reserves Voxnadalen, Lake Vänern Archipelago and Mount Kinnekulle, and Blekinge Archipelago, revealed several knowledge gaps. Many of the respondents were unable to identify common invasive plant species, and most were uncertain of how climate change can be expected to impact invasive species. Garden owners prioritise aesthetics, hardiness, habitat suitability and biodiversity support over the species’ geographical origin when selecting plants for their gardens. Personal experience of biodiversity loss in their surroundings, which respondents attributed to invasive species, was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of having undertaken management actions. Traditional management methods like hand weeding and digging were most commonly used and were perceived as effective. In addition, regional differences in responses highlighted the need for locally adapted communication. The results enabled the identification of evidence-based communication needs to guide communicators at national, regional, and local levels regarding what information to include in their messaging.

Nyckelord

invasive alien species; domestic gardens; risk communication; climate change; horticulture

Publicerad i

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae
2025, nummer: 2025:94
Utgivare: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

SLU författare

UKÄ forskningsämne

Landskapsarkitektur
Ekologi

Publikationens identifierare

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.54612/a.59atckmikl
  • ISBN: 978-91-8124-078-8
  • eISBN: 978-91-8124-124-2

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/142495