Spruce on the loose - invasion potential of sitka spruce in coastal Western Norway (SITKA)

Project owner

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences

Project period

March 2015 - February 2020

Project summary

The aim of this project is to investigate the realized and potential spread of naturalized Sitka spruce in coastal western Norway. The project is designed to address theoretical questions regarding the natural spread of introduced tree species, but it will also produce results that are highly relevant for the applied goal of managing Sitka spruce spread. The project will comprise four studies, which will focus on different aspects of invasiveness and invasibility, and operate on different spatial scales. The topics of the four studies, as given by the preliminary titles of the corresponding manuscripts, are:

  1. The climatically-conditioned range of Sitka spruce in Norway:  a case study of sampling bias correction in distribution models
  2. Differences in invasibility of nature types in Norway to non-native conifers
  3. Factors governing the geographic distribution of introduced Sitka spruce in coastal Western Norway.
  4. Spread of naturalized Sitka spruce in Norway as a function of local population demography