Abstract
Long regarded as posing a low invasion risk, eucalypts are now increasingly recognized as invasive in certain contexts, leading to a surge of studies on this topic in recent years. We performed the first systematic literature review to analyse the invasion risk, the invasion performance and the drivers of eucalypt invasion, using information from 140 publications and 96 species. We also map the eucalypt area and the distribution of eucalypt research, worldwide. Eucalypts cover at least 30 million hectares globally, mostly in Brazil, India and China, but nearly half of the invasion studies were conducted in Portugal and South Africa, mostly on Eucalyptus globulus and E. camaldulensis, respectively. These two widely cultivated species, together with E. tereticornis, have the highest scores among eucalypt species, in invasion risk assessments. A dispersal model was built using data from 15 papers, leading to an estimated maximum dispersal distance of 110 m from mother plants. Soil disturbance, moisture and fire are important key drivers of invasion. Despite notable advances in the invasion ecology of eucalypts in recent years, research biases, context dependency, and persistent knowledge gaps remain challenges that must be addressed to achieve a comprehensive understanding of eucalypt invasion ecology.