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14 - Modern tree colonisers from Australia into the rest of the world

from Part II - Modern invaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

By
Trevor H. Booth
Edited by
Herbert H. T. Prins  and
Iain J. Gordon
Trevor H. Booth
Affiliation:
CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and Climate Adaptation Flagship
Herbert H. T. Prins
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
Iain J. Gordon
Affiliation:
The James Hutton Institute, Scotland
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Summary

Introduction

Australian tree species, particularly eucalypts and acacias, have made a major contribution to plantation forestry around the world. This chapter briefly reviews the introduction of some of the most important plantation species from the Eucalyptus, Acacia and Casuarina genera, into countries outside Australia. It also considers the introduction of Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T. Blake, which is not a major plantation species, but is a serious invasive species, as a special case.

The chapter focuses particularly on identifying the characteristics that have made some Australian species relatively ineffective as invasives, while others have become noxious weeds. The chapter also considers the 11 hypotheses being examined in this book in the light of experiences with the introduction of Australian trees around the world. The process of planned species introduction is in some respects similar to that of biological invasion, and indeed in some cases the latter can follow hard upon the former, so there are some useful ecological lessons relevant to invasion biology to be learnt from the introduction of Australian trees.

Type
Chapter
Information
Invasion Biology and Ecological Theory
Insights from a Continent in Transformation
 , pp. 304 - 323
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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