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In a study published in the Journal of Conservation Biology in
December, 1999, (which I have mentioned previously on this list),
researchers studied nest predation of American robins and wood thrushes in a
500-acre deciduous woodland preserve near Chicago for six years. There,
nonnative honeysuckle had largely replaced the native arrowwood and
buckthorn had largely replaced native hawthorn. The researchers found that
predation of both robin and thrush nests was higher in the nonnative shrubs
than in the native shrubs and trees. The researchers concluded that this
increase was partly due to physical differences - e.g. buckthorn lacks
hawthorn's sharp thorns. Unfortunately both wood thrushes and robins seemed
to be drawn to nesting in the nonnative shrubs.
According to the Plant Conservation Alliance's Alien Plant Working Group,
Rhamnus cathartica, common buckthorn, and Rhamnus frangula, glossy
buckthorn, "tend to form dense, even-aged thickets, crowding and shading out
native shrubs and herbs, often completely obliterating them. Dense buckthorn
seedlings prevent native tree and shrub regeneration. ... The plentiful
fruit is eaten by birds and mice and is known to produce a severe laxative
effect, helping distribute seeds through birds, often far from the parent
plant." http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/rhca1.htm
In short, buckthorn is a Poster Plant for the perils of planting
nonnative plants. According to the PCA, common buckthorn was first
introduced in North America as an ornamental and was also at one time, used
as a "wildlife habitat" plant.
Wild Flora in Birch Hill
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