Invasive alien plants pose a growing threat to native biodiversity and are a burden to local livelihoods through their impacts on cultural values, agriculture, farming and tourism. A prime example of this is stinking passionflower (Passiflora foetida), a herbaceous vine that has invaded across the global tropics, including vast tracts of remote northern Australia. Yet despite its ubiquity in the landscape and growing concerns about its impacts on native biodiversity, surprisingly little is known about how to effectively control stinking passionflower. To address this knowledge gap, we established an 18 month long field experiment in the semi-arid Pilbara region of Western Australia to (i) understand seasonal variation in the growth phenology of stinking passionflower and identify optimal time windows for management; (ii) compare the effectiveness of different methods for controlling stinking passionflower, including both physical removal and chemical treatments; and (iii) understand the knock-on implications of these treatments for the recruitment of new cohorts of stinking passionflower seedlings and the recovery of native plant species. We found that biomass growth was tightly coupled with rainfall events, which are largely unpredictable in the study region. We also found substantial differences in the effectiveness of the different control treatments we trialled, with glyphosate foliar spray proving highly effective while plants recovered quickly following stem cutting. However, the application of glyphosate foliar spray without the removal of the dead biomass resulted in the rapid regeneration of stinking passionflower seedlings, whereas native plant species largely failed to recover.

外来入侵植物对本地生物多样性构成越来越大的威胁，并通过影响文化价值，农业，农业和旅游业而成为当地生计的负担。一个很好的例子就是发散西番莲（Passiflora foetida），一种遍及全球热带地区（包括广阔的澳大利亚北部偏远地区）的草本藤蔓。尽管它在自然环境中无处不在，并且越来越担心它对本地生物多样性的影响，但令人惊讶的是，如何有效地控制臭百香花的知之甚少。为了解决这一知识鸿沟，我们在西澳大利亚州半干旱的皮尔巴拉地区建立了一个为期18个月的野外试验，以（i）了解百香花生长物候的季节性变化，并确定最佳的管理时间窗；（ii）比较不同方法控制异味西番莲的效果，包括物理去除和化学处理；（iii）了解这些处理方法对招募新品种的百香花幼苗和恢复本地植物物种的连锁反应。我们发现，生物量的增长与降雨事件紧密相关，而降雨事件在研究区域内很大程度上是不可预测的。我们还发现，我们试验过的不同对照处理在功效上存在实质性差异，草甘膦叶面喷雾被证明非常有效，而茎切后植物却很快恢复。然而，在不去除死生物量的情况下施用草甘膦叶面喷雾导致了令人讨厌的西番莲幼苗的快速再生，而天然植物物种却在很大程度上无法恢复。在研究区域中这是很难预测的。我们还发现，我们试验过的不同对照处理在功效上存在实质性差异，草甘膦叶面喷雾被证明非常有效，而植物在茎切后迅速恢复。然而，在不去除死生物量的情况下施用草甘膦叶面喷雾导致了令人讨厌的西番莲幼苗的快速再生，而天然植物物种却在很大程度上无法恢复。在研究区域中这是很难预测的。我们还发现，我们试验过的不同对照处理在功效上存在实质性差异，草甘膦叶面喷雾被证明非常有效，而植物在茎切后迅速恢复。然而，在不去除死生物量的情况下施用草甘膦叶面喷雾导致了令人讨厌的西番莲幼苗的快速再生，而天然植物物种在很大程度上未能恢复。