Bracken encroachment rates in Britain

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Abstract
The bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum(L.) Kuhn) is emerging as the most successful of international weeds. Tolerant, yet aggressive and opportunist, it follows characteristically in the wake of evacuated settlement, deforestation or reduced biotic pressures. It is hostile to many other plants and to animals, and generates toxins including some carcinogens. It appears to be extending its range into wet and exposed habitats and at its climatic limits. Estimated encroachment rates in the UK average 1%, sometimes 3% per annum, which appears to be unprecedented. Its historical use as an occasional resource, e.g. for litter, bedding, roofing, etc, has mostly ceased. It is now a major source of land loss and land pollution. More work is needed (and is pending) to calibrate bracken spread more precisely, e.g. from satellite imagery. The reclamation of bracken‐infested land is probably more cost‐beneficial per hectare than the reclamation of wetland or heathland, taking any time‐scale.

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