The invasive species Ulex europaeus (Fabaceae) shows high dynamism in a fragmented landscape of south-central Chile

Abstract

Ulex europaeus (gorse) is an invasive shrub deemed as one of the most invasive species in the world. U. europaeus is widely distributed in the south-central area of Chile, which is considered a world hotspot for biodiversity conservation. In addition to its negative effects on the biodiversity of natural ecosystems, U. europaeus is one of the most severe pests for agriculture and forestry. Despite its importance as an invasive species, U. europaeus has been little studied. Although information exists on the potential distribution of the species, the interaction of the invasion process with the spatial dynamic of the landscape and the landscape-scale factors that control the presence or absence of the species is still lacking. We studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of the landscape and how these relate to U. europaeus invasion in south-central Chile. We used supervised classification of satellite images to determine the spatial distribution of the species and other land covers for the years 1986 and 2003, analysing the transitions between the different land covers. We used logistic regression for modelling the increase, decrease and permanence of U. europaeus invasion considering landscape variables. Results showed that the species covers only around 1 % of the study area and showed a 42 % reduction in area for the studied period. However, U. europaeus was the cover type which presented the greatest dynamism in the landscape. We found a strong relationship between changes in land cover and the invasion process, especially connected with forest plantations of exotic species, which promotes the displacement of U. europaeus. The model of gorse cover increase presented the best performance, and the most important predictors were distance to seed source and landscape complexity index. Our model predicted high spread potential of U. europaeus in areas of high conservation value. We conclude that proper management for this invasive species must take into account the spatial dynamics of the landscape within the invaded area in order to address containment, control or mitigation of the invasion.

Effect of Land Use History on Biodiversity of Pine Plantations

“…The ubiquitous presence of humans in agricultural areas and the frequent and intense disturbances to which crop fields are subjected, promote, respectively, the arrival and establishment of exotic plants, including undesirable weeds (e.g., Genista monspessulana), and naturalized useful plants (e.g., Rubus ulmifolius, Rosa moschata). The positive effect of the amount of open areas in the surrounding landscape on woody exotics (Table 1), indirectly highlights the importance of the distance to propagule source as a factor of invasibility (González-Moreno et al, 2013;Altamirano et al, 2016). The abundance of habitat generalist birds was also higher in plantations established in agricultural areas (Table 2), which agrees with our prediction.…”

Physicochemical Analysis and Essential Oils Extraction of the Gorse (Ulex europaeus) and French Broom (Genista monspessulana), Two Highly Invasive Species in the Colombian Andes

“…In addition, manual removal can lead to management mistakes, including accidental seed dispersal or easy resprouting from partial removal of the aerial biomass [2,23,24]. Public knowledge on these species' impacts on ecosystems remains scarce, although environmental education is increasing, which makes their management particularly complicated [25,26]. As a result, uniformizing and standardizing procedures are urgently required to develop ex-situ valorization of both species.…”

The green thorns of Ulex europaeus play both defensive and photosynthetic roles: consequences for predictions of the Enemy Release Hypothesis

“…However, though U. europaeus was introduced worldwide as forage, ornamental or hedge plant in the 1800s and 1900s, this species is not considered a fodder species and neither used as fodder in the invaded range, which, together with the absence of management practices, may have favored its expansion (Atlan et al 2015). In Chile, it was rst cited in 1847, being now spread from 33°S to 41°S, reaching high densities and large sizes, and even invading areas of conservation value (Clements et al 2001;Muñóz 2009;Fuentes et al 2014;Altamirano et al 2016).…”