A giant plant, example of invaders
2005/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Biologists investigate invasive species through the study of the giant Urdanaza plant.
The giant Urdanaza (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is a plant four meters long. It has its origin in Caucasus, but is invading in various places in Europe. In addition to being invasive, it has very appropriate characteristics for this research, among which it highlights that its sweat causes burns and its leaves are very wide, so it does not grow closer to the dead specimens. According to experts, soil erosion around dead plants is very fast.
These features allow biologists to easily study the extension of the plant. You only have to use aerial photos to see in which area it spreads. The research begins in a territory between the Czech Republic and Bavaria. The goal of biologists is to develop a theoretical model that announces expansion. At the moment, the method has only been tested in small territories, but in order to differentiate the local characteristics of the results, they will expand the project to more territories. Perhaps this research serves to know how to control the expansion of the giant Urdanaza. And perhaps this result facilitates the research of other species.
