Tracing plant invasions in freshwater habitats. Spatial and temporal insights from herbarium metadata

Biological invasions represent a major threat to freshwater ecosystems, yet their long-term spatial and temporal dynamics are often poorly documented. Herbarium data represent a valuable resource to reconstruct invasion patterns. This study aims to use herbarium specimen metadata to reconstruct the invasion histories of six invasive alien aquatic and riparian plant species in Italy, detecting spatial and temporal invasion patterns. We analysed herbarium specimens collected over more than two centuries from national and international collections, using standardized georeferencing procedures and spatial aggregation to reconstruct distribution patterns.