CONCLUSION

By looking at the history of Scotch Broom we were able to learn where this invasive species originated from. It is native to the Mediterranean areas of Europe, and was first introduced to British Columbia by Captain Walter Grant in 1850 when he planted some in his yard. He failed to realize its invasive nature and it spread across Vancouver Island and slowly made it's way to the interior. The spread of Scotch Broom was increased even further in the following years when the departments of highways began using it as a bank stabilizer.

The reasons that make the Scotch Broom a problem is its ability to grow very rapidly and having no natural predators. Without predators Scotch Broom flourishes and competes intensely with existing plants for light, moisture, and nutrients. We can observe the dominating abilities of Scotch Broom by looking at the differing diversity of plant life in the two quadrants that we observed. Scotch Broom also acidifies the soil, which further prevents competing plants from surviving.

Its sturdiness makes it difficult to eliminate once it has been introduced to an environment, thus making the controlling of Scotch Broom very difficult. There are varying measures that can be taken in attempts to control the spread and growth but they come at large labour costs, and environmental damage. Examples of controlling measures include, pulling or cutting whether by man power and machinery, burning or chemical control. The problems that arise with pulling, cutting, as well as burning is that it is need of great labour intensity, the ground is torn up or scorched from the removal of the Broom making it less capable of sustaining future life. The chemical solution is again labour intensive as the negative run off that is created. Chemical control is also hard to implement to a large area and has to be applied regularly.

Quadrant 2: The Take Over

In the second quadrant, broom was the predominant species present. Because of the dense cover, little to no mosses were seen, except on the fringes.

Here are the specimens (other than scotch broom)

electrified cat tail/ gooseneck mossRhytidiadelphus triquetrus

Davy Mannagrass
Glyceria leptostachya

Mnium Magnifolium
Rhzomnium magnifolium

Devil's Club
Oplopanax horridus

Quadrant 1: Life Without Broom

In our first quadrant, the one with only one specimen of broom, we found many species of flora native to British Columbia.

Sword Fern
Polystichum munitum

Black Nightshade
Solanum nigrum

Common mallow
Malva neglecta

Zellers Mushroom
Tricholoma zelleri

Excrement of the local Blacktailed Deer

Cleavers
Galium aparine

Grand Fir
Abies grandis

shaggy mossRhytidiadelphus triquetrus

Shield Lichen
Parmelia sulcata

Metaneckera menziesii

cladina portentosa ssp pacifica

Day 1: The Beginning

To examine the effects of scotch broom on the average British Columbian coastal ecosystem, we braved the blistering winds to venture out into the wilds of Pearson College.
We decided the best way to do this was to create two 5m x 5m quadrants.

The first quadrant was placed in an area with as little scotch broom as possible, and the second in area that was choked by scotch broom.

Quadrant 1

Quadrant 2