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How do lupins harm forestry on Iceland? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/askbiologists

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Recently, I have been reading more and more articles saying that Alaskan lupines (Lupinus nootkatensis) are hindering the growth of trees in Iceland. Unfortunately, however, I could not find any valid reasons why this is so? The story goes that in 1945, the then director of the forest service brought two spoonfuls of seeds from Alaska to amfortify the nutrient-poor Icelandic soil, stop erosion in Iceland and prevent sandstorms. After all I know, lupines draw nitrogen from the air and store it in the soil. So why is that not good for native tree species, such as birch or larch?

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[–] sturlabragason 3 points 1 year ago

Another Icelander here. Agree with your comment, I like it and I believe it does a good job of binding the soil with the added benefit of being fucking gorgeous when blooming.

I believe that the main fear (which I don't agree with, but I haven't done ANY research) is that it will suffocate some of the local fauna, which are these tiny artic plants.

So where there is only sand this isn't a problem but the lupine is quite an aggressive grower and the fear is that it starts growing where the native plants are doing OK and then steals their very limited resources.