Categories · Threats

Introduced plants

Encroachment into natural habitats by invasive non-native plants species is a very serious problem, although this is not a common threat to conifers and their habitats. Oceanic Island ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to invasive species because the native populations are often small and have evolved in isolation without adaptation to high levels of competition.

On Jamaica, where many non-native species, such as the Australian Pittosporum undulatum and the Himalayan Hedychium gardnerianum, pose a formidable threat to the small population of the endemic Podocarpus urbanii in the Blue Mountain and John Crow National Park and to Juniperus brevifolia in the Azores. Ironically, non-native conifers can be the perpetrator, for example, Pseudotsuga menziesii is a problem in part of the range of Austrocedrus chilensis in Argentina. Perhaps the worst culprit is Pinus radiata which ironically, is threatened in the wild in California, but as a result of breeding programmes to select the healthiest and most rapidly growing clones, these trees can be seriously invasive. This is particularly the case in southern Chile where many remnant coastal habitats with Podocarpus salignus are now extremely threatened.

There are 19 taxa in the category – Invasive species, Introduced plants:

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