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Invasion of the Gran Canaria ravines ecosystems (Canary Islands) by the exotic species Acacia farnesiana

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Abstract

The main objective of this study was to analyze if Acacia farnesiana, an introduced shrub from North and Central American tropics is spreading from areas in which it was introduced, and also to determine which animals operate as vectors for the shrub dispersion in the study area. The study site was located in southern Gran Canaria, one of the islands of the Canary Island archipelago. We selected six ravines in an area where approximately 40 plants of A. farnesiana were planted around 40 years ago. We analyzed the size structure of the population of A. farnesiana (density and biovolume) in the ravines, as well as its spatial distribution, in order to assess the degree of aggressiveness of this shrub in terms of spreading and expansion. Our results suggest that this shrub is spreading to new areas very quickly due to dispersion of seed by rabbits and an enhanced germination by the action of Mimoseste mimosae, a bruchid that decreases the germination period of the seed once it has separated from the fruit. Based on the results obtained in this study, we strongly suggest that managers of this area consider a management program to control further spread.

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Acknowledgments

This work is the part of the study program of exotic species carried out by the Invasive Species: Interinsular Research Group (EIGI) of the University of La Laguna and University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. We thank the “Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, Gobierno de Canarias” (Regional Government Department of Education, Culture and Sports) for providing funding for this project (Code: PI042004/096). We thank the students of Geography of University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lea de Nascimento, Elízabeth Fernández and Tamar de la Concepción from the University of La Laguna for their assistance in the sampling. We are also grateful for the collaboration of the fine staff of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria (especially Mr. Carlos Velázquez), who offered the use of their facilities in the Park and the Managers of the Society “Costa Canaria Venegueras” for access to the study site and collaboration with the members of this project. We thank Dr. Jerry Husak at Virginia Tech for his valuable comments on the manuscript and Heather Adams of ULPGC for translating it into English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206, La Laguna, Islas Canarias, Spain

    José Ramón Arévalo

  2. Department of Geography, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35003, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Islas Canarias, Spain

    Leila Afonso, Agustín Naranjo & Marcos Salas

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  1. José Ramón Arévalo
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  2. Leila Afonso
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  3. Agustín Naranjo
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  4. Marcos Salas
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Correspondence to José Ramón Arévalo.

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Nomenclature: Izquierdo et al. 2004.

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Arévalo, J.R., Afonso, L., Naranjo, A. et al. Invasion of the Gran Canaria ravines ecosystems (Canary Islands) by the exotic species Acacia farnesiana . Plant Ecol 206, 185–193 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-009-9633-0

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