Alien plants of Sumatra

Wendy Mustaqim is a lecturer at the Biology study program of Universitas Samudra in Langsa, Aceh Province, Sumatra.His research focuses on plant systematics and conservation, including the distribution and spread of alien plants. He leads the initiatives for a digital Flora of Sumatra (Digital Flora of Sumatra) and Indonesia in general (Digital Flora of Indonesia).

He will collaborate with subproject B06 to establish an authoritative list of alien plant species in Sumatra based on a thorough review of relevant literature, and in a second step, herbarium collections.

Alien plants can dramatically alter ecosystems and potentially threaten native plant diversity. They are often particularly dominant in vegetation types heavily modified by humans, as the plantations systems under study in EFForTS. A main obstacle in the study of these alien plants is the insufficient knowledge about which species are actually native and which are truly alien, i.e. were introduced to Sumatra and have become naturalized. The aim of the collaboration is to close this knowledge gap.