The impact of alien plants on the ecosystems of Mediterranean islands will be explored by Dr Phil Hulme, Head of Ecosystem Dynamics at the Natural Environmental Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Banchory, at this week’s Macaulay Institute seminar.

Entitled ‘Strangers in Paradise: a Mediterranean invasive odyssey’, the seminar takes place at 2pm on Wednesday 19 January at The Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Jane Lund on tel: 01224 498200, email:j.lund@macaulay.ac.uk.

Commenting on the topic of the seminar, Dr Hulme said: “The Mediterranean islands are particularly vulnerable to plant invasions and understanding the distribution and impact of invasive, non-native plants is recognised as a global priority.”

“In this seminar I will be looking at the importance of various factors in making islands vulnerable to invasion, such as their size, ecosystem diversity and human population density. I will also be exploring which traits of a plant species are important in determining its ability to colonise Mediterranean Islands and the impact of invasive, non-native plants on island ecosystems.”

The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the use of rural land resources for the benefit of people and the environment and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/

(Ends)

For further information contact:
Julia Mackay
Account Manager
Tricker PR
Telephone: 01224 646491
Email: jmackay@trickerpr.com