The Impacts on Natural Vegetation Following the Establishment of Exotic Casuarina Plantations

Casuarina equisetifolia Forst. (Casuarinaceae) (hereafter referred to as Casuarina) also called Australian-pine or beach she-oak, is a nitrogen-fixing, medium to large evergreen tree, 15-30 m or more high and with a diameter at breast height (DBM) of up to 50 cm. It is native to the tropical and subtropical coastlines of Australia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and New Caledonia. However, it has become pantropical as its native range has expanded through its introduction and later naturalization, because of its ability to reproduce in dense stands [rom abundant self-seeding and its high tolerance to extreme environmental conditions, such as drought and low nutrient availability, It is also tolerant to burial by sand. In Mexico, the natural expansion of Casuarina on coastal dunes seems to he limited,
but nevertheless in the past decades this species was widely planted, and nowadays it is considered as an invasive in the national invasive species inventory (March- Mifsut and Martinez-Jimenez 2007).