Home13 October 2025
Non-native plants are increasingly threatening Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity and ecosystems, with nearly half of all plant species being non-native and many becoming environmental weeds with a widespread impact. To support future weed management strategies, this project explored how native vegetation, landscape features, and climate influence non-native plant invasion in forest ecosystems with a particular interest in mānuka and kānuka shrublands. Using non-native species richness and cover, we estimated both the diversity of non-native species and their potential impact across a range of forest types. Our findings showed that mānuka-kānuka shrublands are particularly vulnerable to non-native plant invasions, partly due to their proximity to human-altered landscapes. Non-native woody plants pose the greatest risk once established in forest understories. These insights highlight the value of more targeted weed control strategies.
About the Presenter
Laureline is an early-career researcher and a forest ecologist who has been investigating plant invasion in indigenous forests and shrublands, particularly mānuka and kānuka. She is especially interested in contributing to knowledge that can be used to guide conservation strategies and build ecosystem resilience against biological invasions.
After completing a PhD in Ecology at the University of Canterbury in 2021, she then joined Bioprotection Aotearoa as a postdoctoral researcher, where she investigated the drivers of plant invasion in mānuka and kānuka shrublands across Aotearoa New Zealand and identified groups of non-native plant species that may threatens forest ecosystems. That experience deepened her interest in the mechanisms that help native ecosystems to resist invasions.
In her current role at the Bioeconomy Science Institute (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research), she is continuing to explore the complexities of forest ecosystems, with a particular focus on how landscape features and environmental factors drive the spread of invasive species affecting the natural succession of native forests. As a collaborating scientist with Bioprotection Aotearoa, she brings her expertise to projects that aim to enhance biosecurity and support resilient ecosystems across Aotearoa New Zealand.
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More information
Learn more about this research, follow its progress and explore related work.
- Research | Non-native plant invasions in native forests and shrublands
For more information about Laureline’s project, head over to her research page.
- Article | Low Richness of Invasive Non-Native Plants in New Zealand Indigenous Forests May Not Reflect Low Impact
Identifying habitats vulnerable to plant invasions is essential for developing efficient management programmes. By assessing trends in richness and cover of non-native plants in indigenous shrublands and forests across New Zealand, we investigated whether species classed as invasive species exhibited higher levels of plant invasion than naturalised species and the extent to which this reflected plant life form.
About Rangahau Rising Webinar Series
Rangahau Rising is a new webinar series showcasing emerging researchers who are asking bold questions and exploring new directions in bioprotection. Each session features an early career researcher sharing their journey, ideas, and in-progress work across a range of bioprotection topics.