Format: ORAL

Carlos Gmez-Bellver1, Jordi Lpez-Pujol1, Felipe Martnez-Garca2, Ana Novoa3,4, Neus Nualart1 Jairo Patio4, Lloren Sez5

1 Botanic Institute of Barcelona (IBB, CSIC-Ajuntament de Barcelona), Barcelona 08038, Catalonia, Spain. 2 Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain 3 Department of Invasion Ecology, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Pruhonice, Czech Republic 4 Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IPNA-CSIC), Tenerife, Spain 5 Systematics and Evolution of Vascular Plants (UAB)—Associated Unit to CSIC, Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Invasive alien species poses one of the main threats to biodiversity conservation, ranking as the second leading cause of native species extinction worldwide. The Mediterranean Basin, particularly Spain, has emerged as one of the most impacted regions by biological invasions. Several factors contribute to this vulnerability, including: (1) the profound human-mediated modification of natural habitats (habitat loss and fragmentation, contamination); (2) complex and varied topographic, lithological, and climatic gradients; (3) its key role as a global commercial and transportation hub; (4) its condition as one of the world’s main touristic destinations; and (5) its recurrent identification as one of the biodiversity hotspots more susceptible to climate change. Biological invasions have profound impacts on the Spanish flora, since Spain is very rich in plant diversity, with plenty of narrow-range endemics; the latter being inherently vulnerable to human activities due to low effective population size but exhibiting taxa of high genetic distinctiveness. Knowledge on the status of alien species in a given area is essential for effective management and prevention of their further spread. Within this context, the Introduced Plant Working Group of the Spanish Botanical Society (SEBOT) is currently developing a comprehensive list of alien vascular plants found in Spain, aiming at: (objective 1) updating and completing the existing catalog of introduced plants in Spain, which was last published over two decades ago and excluded casual plants; and (objective 2) identifying alien taxa that are not currently included in the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species, which legally regulates the possession, transport, movement, and trade of alien species. In this communication, we will provide a summary of the progress achieved in this ongoing initiative that already agglutinates an important network of researchers working on invasive biology in Spain.