Return of the aliens in 2011
Return of the aliens in 2011
In the past years the importance of garden escapes (deliberately introduced non-native plants that run wild) has steadily increased in Belgium (see Verloove 2006). "Genuine" aliens (unintentionally introduced non-native plants), on the contrary, have much decreased lately. Wool aliens are no longer seen since the 1970's in Belgium while grain aliens still occur but often in small amounts and confined to a restricted number of localities (mainly in port areas). An obvious explanation for this decline is lacking but one might think of the following: