Association between Opuntia species invasion and changes in land-cover in the Mediterranean region
Vilà, Montserrat (Vilà Planella) (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Pino i Vilalta, Joan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)

Date:	2003
Abstract:	In Mediterranean regions, biological invasions pose a major threat to the conservation of native species and the integrity of ecosystems. In addition, changes in land-cover are a widespread phenomenon in Mediterranean regions, where an increase in urban areas and major changes from agricultural abandonment to shrub encroachment and afforestation are occurring. However, the link between biological invasions and changes in land-cover has scarcely been analyzed. We conducted a regional survey of the distribution of the two alien prickly-pear cacti Opuntia maxima and O. stricta in Cap de Creus (Catalonia, Spain) and related patterns of invasion to spatially explicit data on land-cover/change from 1973 to 1993 to test the hypotheses that the two Opuntia species invade areas that have experienced large land-cover transformations. We found that Opuntia invasion is particularly high in shrublands and woodlands located near urban areas. O. maxima are over-represented in the shrublands and O. stricta in the woodlands that were former crops. Crop coverage has dropped by 71% in this 20-year period. This study highlights the role of past land-cover in understanding the present distribution of plant invasions.
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Alien species ; GIS ; Land transformation ; Mediterranean vegetation ; Old olive groves ; Opuntia maxima ; Opuntia stricta ; Prickly-pear cacti ; Espècies exòtiques ; Cactaceae ; SIG ; Transformació de la terra ; Vegetació mediterrània ; Oliveres centenàries ; Nopal cactus ; Especies exóticas ; Transformación de la tierra ; Vegetación mediterránea ; Olivos centenarios
Published in:	Global change biology, Vol. 9, Núm. 8 (2003) , p. 1234-1239, ISSN 1365-2486

DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2486.2003.00652.x

6 p, 137.5 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles