Urban Rivers as Dispersal Corridors: Which Factors Are Important for the Spread of Alien Woody Species along the Danube?

Cities are hotspots of invasions, and this is particularly the case for urban rivers, which are known to serve as corridors for the spread of alien plant species to floodplain forests. Here, we present a case study on woody (shrubs, trees) species invasions across a gradient from a metropolis (Vienna) to rural regions along the Danube River in eastern Austria. In total, we identified 44 native and 25 alien woody species in 75 plots. Five alien woody species occur in at least 10 plots. The most wide-spread ones were species of floodplain forests ( Acer negundo , Fraxinus pennsylvanica , and Populus x canadensis ), while Ailanthus altissima and Robinia pseudoacacia —which prefer dry sites—were recorded substantially less often. The average level of invasion—i.e., the relative proportion of alien to native woody species in plots—was high across all three study regions. Still, there was a moderate decline of alien woody species richness along the urban—peri-urban—rural gradient. Generalized Linear Mixed Models showed that population density and the proportion of urban habitats in the environs of the plots is significantly positively correlated with the presence of Acer negundo and Ailanthus altissima . Conversely, the occurrence of Robinia pseudoacacia is negatively correlated with surrounding population density and urban habitats. Occurrence of Acer negundo is positively correlated with urban habitats. For Fraxinus pennsylvanica , we found no significant relationships. Our results confirm that gallery forests at river banks are highly susceptible to invasions. We argue that managing alien woody species in urban and peri-urban sites is not appropriate and useful, given that re-invasion is likely in most cases (from adjacent urban green spaces). We acknowledge that this recommendation entails the implicit recognition that gallery forests along urban sections of the Danube will contain a substantial—and likely further increasing—proportion of alien woody species.