The aim of this University of Glasgow project is to quantify the extent of non-native plant invasion within the WrEN Scottish network of broadleaf woodland creation sites and determine the drivers of invasion to inform conservation management. The Woodland Creation & Ecological Networks project (WrEN) was established in 2014 and is a large-scale, long-term natural experiment designed to study the long-term effects (up to 170 years) of woodland creation on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

This project aims to:

• investigate how the number of non-native plant species has changed over a 10-year period (i.e. since the WrEN woodlands were last surveyed for plants in 2015)
• map the extent of invasion (i.e. % of woodland area invaded, split by species) and examine local (e.g. woodland age, size and tree structure metrics) and landscape-level (e.g. distance to nearest river and road, amount of woodland in surrounding landscape) drivers of invasion
• produce management recommendations to minimise plant invasion in broadleaf woodland creation sites and to inform the effective design and long-term management of future woodland creation efforts.

Non-native plants and woodland structure will be surveyed in a subset of the WrEN Scottish woodlands (minimum of 40 woodlands). The network of 60 Scottish WrEN woodlands, represent a gradient in woodland age (30-170 years since creation) and therefore, woodland development stages, woodland size (0.5-4.4 hectares) as well as a range of landscape variables, including amount of broadleaf woodland in the surrounding landscape (<1-23% within 1km buffer).

Statistical analyses will be conducted to identify changes in non-native plant richness from 2015 to 2026, and the local and landscape-level drivers of non-native plant richness and woodland invasion extent.

The findings of this project will be published as a scientific paper, presented at a major national conference, as well as lay summaries in appropriate magazines and websites. Publicity of publications, conference talks and articles will be shared on the WrEN website and social media platforms  to disseminate to wide audience.

Finally, findings from this work will be highly relevant to inform conservation actions and environmental policy, and the aim is to translate their findings into practical guidance (e.g. as advisory documents for woodland creation and management schemes).