Evaluating the Social and Ecological Drivers of Invasive Plant Species Abundance in Sub-tropical Community Forests of Nepal

Invasive plants harm the ecological properties of natural systems, human health,

and local economies. However, the negative impacts of invasive species are not always

immediately visible and may be disregarded by local communities if social benefits of

control efforts are not clear. In this dissertation, I use a mixed-methods approach to

investigate the drivers of invasive plant distribution, potential financially feasible

management techniques to control invasion, and community forest user perceptions of

those techniques. In this work, I aim to incorporate the diverse perspectives of local

people and increase the long-term success of invasive species control activities in socio

economically vulnerable populations.

Integrating a spatially and temporally diverse data set, I explore the social and

ecological drivers of invasive plant abundance across 21 buffer zone community forests

in the Western Chitwan Valley of Nepal. I evaluate to what extent forest user and

collective manager activities, the legacies of historic activities, and ecological properties

influence present-day invasive plant abundance. I built upon this study to identify areas

with critically high levels of invasion then initiated a three-year, community-based

management intervention to evaluate traditional and adaptive land management

approaches to control invasive plants. I found that both approaches reduced invasive

plant abundance relative to the surrounding, untreated forest. I then interviewed focus

groups to investigate their perceived efficacy of the various treatment types and found

that almost all forest users and managers preferred the adaptive approach over the

traditional management approach. Notably, forest users cited the importance of the

availability of forest resources and lack of harmful plants in the plots that had undergone

this method. Understanding how forest users relate to and experience invasive plants has

been relatively understudied but can influence forest user engagement in different

management approaches. For this reason, I performed in-depth ethnoecological

interviews to explore how forest users perceive, how they utilize, and to what extent they

value invasive plants. This mixed-methods approach contributes to a more holistic

understanding of the role that local people play in invasive plant management and

restoration activities.