Invasion impacts working group meeting

I spent a productive week in Arthur’s Pass with a stellar group of ecologists studying plant invasions, with a focus on wilding conifers. It’s impossible to beat the combination of stimulating discussion and beautiful location! We are developing a focused review to help advance research approaches to understanding, predicting, and managing invasive species impacts, as well as designing cross-continental experiments, compiling data from across the globe, and outlining additional synthesis papers. It was a great opportunity to better connect and build our collaborative network for both the ‘Winning Against Wildings’ project funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and other work I’m currently involved in regarding the role of species traits in predicting invasion risk and impact.

Attendees at the workshop included myself, Duane Peltzer, Kate Orwin, Lupe Peralta, and Peter Bellingham (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research); Ian Dickie, Joanna Green, and Sarah Sapsford (University of Canterbury); Phil Hulme and Rob Gibson (Lincoln University); Martin Nuñez (Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina); Aníbal Pauchard (Universidad de Concepción, Chile); Kim Taylor-Davis (University of Montana, USA); and David Wardle (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore).