Questions: Do invasions of P. halepensis (Aleppo pine) from plantations into adjacent natural communities occur in the Mediterranean region, where the species is native? What are the spatio-temporal processes involved in pine invasions in contrasting Mediterranean and semi-arid climatic regions?

Location: Mediterranean and semi-arid regions of Israel.

Methods: The density of invading Pinus was measured in relation to the distance from the plantation edge. Plants were categorized by age, height, basal stem girth and developmental stage, their spatial distribution was also recorded.

Results: Analysis of plant age distribution indicates that the invasion process started when the plantations were 20–25 years old. Most invading plants were found within 20 m from the plantation edge, but a few individuals reached distances up to 100 m and became new invasion foci. Plant density declined sharply with distance from adult trees, data showing a better fit to a power model than to a negative exponential model. Invading Pinus began to produce cones earlier in the semi-arid than in the Mediterranean region (9 vs 12 years to 50% reproductive plants). In both regions, higher densities of invading plants were found on the west side of the plantation, the opposite direction to the hot winds that prevail during seed release.

Conclusion: The frontal advance of P. halepensis from plantations is relatively slow, but the populations also expand by a saltation process, creating spreading ‘islands’ of pine trees in the natural vegetation. Spatial pattern of recruits with distance from the source population was remarkably similar to the pattern of seed dispersal in the same region (Nathan et al. 1999). This implies that the probability of a dispersed seed developing into a plant is independent of the distance from the forest edge.