Technicians and nature watchers from the Terceira Natural Park will participate tomorrow, September 13, in a training session on the fight against invasive species. The session will be guided by Elspeth Coker, an Australian expert in this field, who is visiting the island of Terceira.

Elspeth Coker holds a degree in Forestry from the University of Melbourne and has developed her professional career in the field of prevention and control of invasive species, whether flora or fauna. In this context, she has promoted campaigns to prevent and combat invasive species that pose the greatest threats to the ecosystems of the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales as well as working groups, with various stakeholders, to define strategies for the conservation and improvement of habitats of native Australian flora species.

She has recently led a project team of 55 collaborators in the implementation of work safety measures for all forestry operations in the field.
Currently, Elspeth Cocker leads a team of four technicians under the programme “Bush Tender” with the purpose of developing management plans to prevent and combat invasive species in the state of Victoria, Australia. She also coordinates a project on the prevention of the invasive species Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima), which was inadvertently introduced in the country through some wholesalers, having been sold as an ornamental plant at several nurseries.

During the training session, Elspeth Coker will present some of the strategies that have been developed to prevent the spread of invasive species in Australia, thus contributing to the enhancement of knowledge and the sharing experiences related to this theme, which is one of the main threats to Azorean biodiversity.

In the Azores, the number of introduced plants is relatively high; some of which are invasive, changing and often destroying the structure of natural habitats.

Pittosporum undulatum, Hedychium gardnerianum (Kahili Ginger), Arundo donax (common reed) and Hydrangea macrophylla (hydrangea) are the main invasive species in the Azores, which due their ability to quickly spread already occupy considerable areas on all islands.