Iris STIERS

Due to global trade the number of alien species has exponentially increased, a trend that is especially evident in aquatic ecosystems. Today more than 400 alien aquatic and semi-aquatic plant species for aquarium or pond purposes are in trade in Europe causing a diverse impact on aquatic biodiversity.

Iris Stiers focused her PhD on these invasive alien freshwater aquatic plants. The main goal was to strengthen the understanding of a number of target Invasive Alien Aquatic Plants (IAAPs), how they interact with the different biological communities and what the role is of invasive species cover in shaping the impact.

In her post-doc she continues to work on the impact of IAAPs and collaborates with several institutions (European Plant Protection Organization (EPPO); Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (VKM)) and research groups in Europe, USA, South-Africa and New Zealand to conduct risk analyses and meta-analyses on the impact and management of different IAAPs. More recently she broadened her research to investigate the functional role of native and invasive macrophytes.

Iris Stiers is also the academic coordinator of the programme Master in Biology – specialisation human ecology.

Hussner A, Stiers I, Verhofstad M, Bakker ES,  Grutters B, Haury J, van Valkenburg J, Brundu G, Newman J, Clayton JS, Anderson LWJ, Hofstra DE (in press) Management and control methods of invasive alien freshwater aquatic plants: a review. Aquatic Botany

Triest L, Stiers I, Van Onsem S (equal contribution as first author) (2016) Biomanipulation as a nature-based solution to reduce cyanobacterial blooms. Aquatic Ecology 50: 461–483

D’hondt B, Vanderhoeven S, Roelandt S, Mayer F, Versteirt V, Adriaens T, Ducheyne E, San Martin G, Grégoire J-C, Stiers I, Quoilin S, Cigar J, Heughebaert A, Branquart E (2015) Harmonia+ and Pandora+: risk screening tools for potentially invasive plants, animals and their pathogens. Biological Invasions 17: 1869-1883.

Stiers I, Coussement K, Triest L (2014) The invasive aquatic plant Ludwigia grandiflora affects visitants to a native plant at high abundances. Aquatic Invasions 9: 357-367

Stiers I, Njambuya J, Triest L (2011) Competitive abilities of invasive Lagarosiphon major and native Ceratophyllum demersum in monocultures and mixtures in relation to experimental sediment dredging. Aquatic Botany 95: 161-166.

Stiers I, Crohain N, Josens G and Triest L (2011) Impact of three aquatic invasive species on native plants and macroinvertebrates in temperate ponds. Biological Invasions 13: 2715-2726.

Njambuya J, Stiers I, Triest L (2011) Competition between invasive Lemna minuta and native Lemna minor at different nutrient concentrations. Aquatic Botany 94: 158-164.

Van Rossum F, Stiers I, Van Geert A, Triest L, Hardy O (2011) Fluorescent dye particles as pollen analogues for measuring gene flow by pollen:Primula elatior as study case. Oecologia 165: 663-674.

Van Geert A, Van Rossum F, Stiers I, Sierens T, Barker J.H.A and Triest L (2006) Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in primrose (Primula vulgaris). Belgian Journal of Botany, 139 (2): 261-264