Invasive ranges of gorse in the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia and Sri Lanka

2018

Gorse (Ulex europaeus L.) is an extremely competitive invasive plant that displaces native biodiversity including agricultural wealth. Assessments of the phenology and soil seed bank of gorse are needed to understand the factors influencing their high reproductive efficiency and invasiveness. This study aims at understanding how certain traits of gorse contribute to its reproductive success in two climatically distinct regions in its invasive range, South Australia and Sri Lanka. Several traits, namely fruit:flower ratio, seed production, pod predation and the density of seeds in the soil seed bank were examined. Results suggests that the reproductive success of gorse in Sri Lanka, in terms…