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Try doing that in Iceland. They’re both very aware and conflicted about invasive species up there. Lupin is invasive and covering the country and also building soil from nothing, Pine trees are invasive and the quickest way to get treecover that is desperately needed.
Makes for weird discussions, I guess Iceland is such and extreme case that nobody really knows if they should be saving the ecosystem it had managed to scratch together before we turned up or if they should be trying to rush a healthier ecosystem with imports (Iceland was pretty thin and fragile even before humans and we wrecked what little there was)
In California, we have Tumbleweed, and it’s actually really useful for stabilizing/fertilizing loose, disturbed soils and making shelter for native grasses and plants to start growing near. They also love to fuck with cars by jumping out in front of them at every opportunity.
In California they are a danger to the environment. They can spread fires quicker and spread it to different areas. No bueno.
The California Invasive Plant Council found that Tumbleweeds had no meaningful impact on wildfire risk one way or the other.
Of course a council full of invasive plants would say that
😂
Link?
While waving a flaming Deku stick around probably isn’t safe I don’t think you can blame California’s wildfires on a pointy-eared kid with a floppy hat.
My friend your paper states
Plants may add oxalate leachate to soil, making phosphorous more available and facilitating colonization. Can increase fire hazard, especially along tree rows and fences when dead plants build up.
Direct quote from the same item:
Increases fire hazard (though may be a hazard primarily to human landscapes).
In other words, it doesn’t meaningfully contribute to the overall ecological fire hazard, you’re mostly talking highway veg fires and stuff, which happen with or without tumbleweeds.
Are there many species there that are specific to Iceland which would be harmed by lupines and pines taking over?
If it’s most an amalgamation of stuff that commonly found elsewhere I think it would be fine.
If pine seeds came to Iceland on the wind 100 years before humans got there it would have been considered native. Most the seeds of all the other stuff got there the same way I imagine, unless they’ve been isolated since the island split from a continent somewhere.
Well there’s the native birch forests, which get outcompeted. But given the vikings killed them off it’s mostly just the opportunity cost of planting pine over birch. There was a bit of both, so it’s not all or nothing of course
If you’re also pointing out cool native plants and their uses and benefits you’re amazing
also check out crime pays but botany doesn’t on youtube
Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t
YES. I love that channel.
Also, if you’re interested, I’m going to take this opportunity to shamelessly promote the community I set up dedicated to California native plants.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn’t work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: [email protected]
I would also like to give a vote for Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t.
I’ve only seen a few episodes but the desert plants/succulents content was just riveting.
Dat guy has sure got da way wit werds right? Who’d da thought Chicago accents could be so goddamn soothing.
I mean down here we just embrace the kudzu. Ok, that’s not true. Down here if you sit for too long, but not as long as you’d think. The kudzu embraces you.
Kudzu is a wildly useful plant. I sometimes regret never taking the opportunity to forage it when I lived in Georgia.
Yes but it’s still invasive and shouldn’t be there
I mean it’s already there and isn’t going anywhere, might as well make the best of a bad situation and get some good out of it.
Growth rate: about one foot per day
Holy shit
We should hike together. I genuinely love hiking with people who won’t shut up about plants, rocks, fungi, or animals
English ivy. English ivy everywhere.
Tree of Heaven. I dislike this tree and point out its growth to friends and family when we pass by them all the time.
Me looking at all the invasive grass in socal…
Ughhhh this is me. I can’t unsee the invasive species.
Pointing out earth worms are invasive in many places has been my go to recently.
Not the permafrost!!
For me its zebra mussels. I see those, it’s a firefight on sight.
Gotta have those high-capacity magazines
Oh hey, it’s me. But seriously fuck mullein.
The species aren’t invasive the people that took them from their natural habitat and then abandoned them are.
Be the invasive species you want to see in the world.
