The Forest on the Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus

Abstract

Throughout history the values and meanings attached to habitats and species in particular places have seen considerable change. Such shifts in perspective are of particular relevance to the biology of invasions, with human attention and values often determining both the initial movement of species around the world, and the decision that subsequent independent spread should be considered damaging to the environment. This chapter examines such a case for the Akrotiri peninsula, Cyprus, where a particular colonial story about the degraded state of the environment, and the need to combat malaria, led to the introduction of various Australian trees for sanitation and other purposes. Today, some of these non-native species are considered invasive, and are having impacts on valued wetland habitats on the peninsula. We use archival research to investigate the changes in policy towards these habitats and the non-native species that affect them, and field research to describe the ecological context. Our study illustrates the complex interactions between ideas, practical aims, and values that lie behind the planned and invaded habitats at Akrotiri.

Full text

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Cite as: Pescott O.L., Harris S.E., Peyton J.M., Onete M., Martinou A.F., Mountford J.O. (2018) The Forest on the
Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
The forest on the peninsula: Impacts, uses and perceptions of a colonial
legacy in Cyprus
Pescott, O.L.* 1, Harris, S.E .2, Peyton, J.M.1, Onete, M.3, Martinou, A.F.4 and J.O. Mountford1
1. NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) Wallingford, Benson Lane, Wallingford,
Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK
2. Eastern Michigan University, 900 Oakwood St, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA
3. Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Splaiul Independentei nr. 296;
060031, Bucharest, Romania
4. Joint Services Health Unit (JSHU), Akrotiri, Cyprus
*Corresponding author. E-mail: olipes@ceh.ac.uk; tel.: +44(0)1491 692 215
Key words: Invasive non-native species, alien species, colonialism, Acacia saligna,
Eucalyptus
Abstract
Throughout history the values and meanings attached to habitats and species in particular
places have seen considerable change. Such shifts in perspective are of particular relevance to
the biology of invasions, with human attention and values often determining both the initial
movement of species around the world, and the decision that subsequent independent spread
should be considered damaging to the environment. This chapter examines such a case for the
Akrotiri peninsula, Cyprus, where a particular colonial story about the degraded state of the
environment, and the need to combat malaria, led to the introduction of various Australian trees
for sanitation and other purposes. Today, some of these non-native species are considered
invasive, and are having impacts on valued wetland habitats on the peninsula. We use archival
research to investigate the changes in policy towards these habitats and the non-native species
that affect them, and field research to describe the ecological context. Our study illustrates the
complex interactions between ideas, practical aims, and values that lie behind the planned and
invaded habitats at Akrotiri.

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Cite as: Pescott O.L., Harris S.E., Peyton J.M., Onete M., Martinou A.F., Mountford J.O. (2018) The Forest on the
Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
1. Introduction
Over and above the fundamental, discoverable truths of ecology and the environment, human
value systems exert their influence, a no doubt inevitable consequence of the multiple temporal
and spatial scales, the many and varied species, and the complex biotic and abiotic interactions
(including those involving humans) that make up ecological systems (Castree 2014; Allen and
Hoekstra 2015). It should not surprise us then, that, throughout history, the values and
meanings attached to habitats and species in particular places have seen considerable change.
Such shifts in perspective are of particular relevance to the biology of invasions, with human
attention and values often determining both the initial movement of species around the world,
and the decision that subsequent independent spread should be considered damaging to the
environment. We examine such a scenario in Cyprus, where shifts in policy and approaches to
the habitats of the Akrotiri peninsula over the past 150 years provide a fascinating, and well-
documented, case of changing environmental priorities. We first overview these semi-natural
and anthropogenic habitats from the point of view of the ecologist, assessing the intrinsic
diversity and richness of the plant communities of the peninsula in a broad, and, we would
hope, objective fashion. We then present the historical context and actions that created one of
the most significant anthropogenic habitats of the peninsula, a forest of non-native Australian
trees. The forest provides us with our non-native ‘bioinvasions’, albeit to differing degrees for
different species. Drawing on our own fieldwork in the area and on previous studies, we
examine some of the current impacts of these non-native forest species on native Cypriot
wetland communities and, finally, review some of the current discussions about, and uses of,
the Akrotiri forest, in order to demonstrate the continuing diversity of responses and meanings
attached to the area.
2. The habitats of the Akrotiri peninsula
Wetland habitats are relatively scarce in the Mediterranean, with most of the extensive areas
of wetland plant communities being found in the coastal lowlands (Britton and Crivelli 1993;
Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory [MWO] 2012; Markogianni et al. 2014). Indeed, wetland
sites on a similar scale to those found in Continental, Atlantic or Steppic biogeographic regions
are very few in number in the Mediterranean (http://medwet.org). Wetland communities may
also occur along river valleys and gorges, in inland freshwater lakes, and around springs and
artificial water bodies such as dams or drainage channels (Gucel et al. 2012). The exact
distribution of these features varies between countries, and existing inventories must certainly
underestimate the areas of smaller features such as freshwater marshes, ponds, and wooded
wetlands (Britton and Crivelli 1993; Perennou et al. 2012), many of which may be refuges for
formerly more widespread plants—note, for example, some of the marginal wetland habitats
described by Bergmeier and Abrahamczyk (2008) for Crete. Although wetlands are not the
richest habitat for endemic plant diversity in the Mediterranean (Hobohm and Bruchmann
2011), they may still be of high local or regional value, containing many plant and animal
species of restricted distribution (e.g. Smith et al. 2014). Globally, freshwater habitats are
disproportionally important for the conservation of biodiversity given their area (Strayer and
Dudgeon 2010), and, in recognition of this, recent efforts have been made to identify new areas
of freshwater habitat important for biodiversity in the eastern Mediterranean (Barrios et al.
2014).
Being of restricted occurrence, and by virtue of their association with the regionally scarce
resource of fresh water, Mediterranean wetland habitats also face ongoing threats from habitat

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
conversion and water extraction (Perennou et al. 2012; MWO 2012, 2014). These threats
appear to be increasing across the region (MWO 2014), although wetland habitat destruction
is not a new phenomenon: Rackham (1990), for example, notes the extensive destruction of
fen habitats in Greece during the 20th century. Across Europe, wetland drainage for agricultural
intensification, or through attempts to combat malaria, has been widespread for hundreds of
years (Joosten 1999), motives that have also influenced the development of these habitats in
the eastern Mediterranean. In the context of Cyprus, the salt lake and marshes of the Akrotiri
peninsula represent one of the most significant wetland complexes on the island (Delipetrou et
al. 2008). The salt lake is itself a relatively uncommon feature in the region, and the importance
of the extensive complex of permanent and seasonal saline water bodies, salt and freshwater
marshes, and sand flats found at Akrotiri was recognised by its designation as a Ramsar site in
2003 (JNCC 2008). Criterion 1 of the Ramsar Sites Criteria, stating that “[a] wetland should
be considered internationally important if it contains a representative, rare, or unique example
of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region”,
was cited as a key factor in its designation. More locally, Christodoulou (2003) has estimated
that coastal halophytic wetlands account for only 0.3% of the land area of Cyprus.
The main wetland habitats around the lake include communities of conservation
importance from the syntaxonomic classes
1
(Mucina et al. 2016) Juncetea maritimi,
Therosalicornietea and Salicornietea fruticosae—essentially equivalent to habitats 1410
(Mediterranean salt meadows), 1310 (Salicornia and other annuals colonising mud and sand)
and 1420 (Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs) of Annex 1 of the European
Commission Habitats Directive. Reedbed and sedge communities of the class Phragmito-
Magnocaricetea are also important around the lake, and both abut and enter a forest of
introduced woody species to the north. Many species of regional importance also occur on the
peninsula. The most recent vascular plant Red Data Book (RDB) for Cyprus (Tsintides et al.
2007) includes the following plants that can still be found on the Akrotiri peninsula in moist
habitats: saw sedge (Cladium mariscus), crypsis (Crypsis factorovskyi), slender club-rush
(Isolepis cernua), sea rushes (Juncus maritimus, J. littoralis), sea flax (Linum maritimum),
water mint (Mentha aquatica), and frog fruit (Phyla nodiflora) (Peyton and Mountford 2015;
see Tsintides et al. 2007 for the conservation statuses of these plants). We suspect that many
other wetland plants found on the peninsula, for example, long-bracted sedge (Carex extensa),
hispid sedge (C. hispida), elymus (Elymus elongatus ssp. haifensis), sharp rush (Juncus
acutus), rigid rush (J. rigidus), subulate rush (J. subulatus), sea plantain (Plantago maritima
ssp. crassifolia), and water germander (Teucrium scordium ssp. scordioides), could be more
threatened than currently considered, given the potential scarcity of, and threats to, suitable
habitat on Cyprus. Current assessments of rarity (Tsintides et al. 2007) and broad distribution
mapping (Hand et al. 2011-2017) appear largely to be based on the Flora of Meikle (1977,
1985), itself partly based on historic literature. Although much new information has
accumulated since Meikle’s Flora (see Hand et al. 2011-2017), more fine-scale information on
species’ distributions would be enlightening and invaluable for assessing threat.
Non-wetland habitats on the peninsula include the scrub forest, or maquis, south of the
salt lake. In broad phytogeographical terms the entire southern coast of Cyprus has been
classified as within the Oleo-Ceratonion siliquae alliance (Noirfalise 1987). Finer
1
Vegetation scientists often use this hierarchical classification system for the description and naming of plant
communities. Although these ‘syntaxonomic’ categories are “less crisply defined” (Mucina et al. 2016) than the
taxonomic categories of genus, species etc., in Europe at least, the use of such systems is well established, and
categories higher than the class (such as the alliance mentioned here) can provide a convenient means of
indicating biogeographic, taxonomic and environmental similarities between communities. The Latinised names
of these communities typically indicate key species and characteristics, as well as the level at which the category
sits in the hierarchy (Kent 2012).

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Cite as: Pescott O.L., Harris S.E., Peyton J.M., Onete M., Martinou A.F., Mountford J.O. (2018) The Forest on the
Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
classifications focused on Cyprus alone have classified the Akrotiri maquis as a coastal subtype
of the Ceratonio-Pistacion lentisci characterised by Phoenicean juniper (Juniperus phoenicea)
(Thirgood 1987). The main forest north of the lake is, however, primarily composed of planted
non-native species
2
, mainly Port Jackson wattle (Acacia saligna), river red gum (Eucalyptus
camaldulensis), tuart (E. gomphocephala), and casuarina (Casuarina cunninghamiana), all
originating in Australia. Wattle and casuarina are both currently invasive on the peninsula
(Hadjikyriakou and Hadjisterkotis 2002), whereas the eucalypt species are not, although
casual
3
occurrences can be found in the forest and elsewhere on the island. In drier areas of the
Akrotiri forest, where the original marshlands may have originally graded into open woodland
or maquis, Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) is present as a planted non-native, and native woody
species such as mastic (Pistacia lentiscus) and Phoenicean juniper appear where the plantation
woodland thins out. The origins and impacts of this plantation are considered further in this
chapter.
3. From pestilence to productivity: Colonial forestry in the lowlands
That the contemporary conservationist values diversity, whether of species within a site or at
the larger scale of habitats with a landscape, is now taken for granted; whether or not diversity
itself should alone be promoted as the target of biological conservation, or whether this should
be linked to ecosystem functions and services to potentially create wider support for
conservation in society, is still debated (Silvertown 2015). The biology of invasions and non-
native species has come to feature in these discussions, with some ecologists and other
commentators arguing for the recognition of the potential benefits of non-native species
(Pearce 2015), or promoting a laissez-faire and very long-term view of the issues surrounding
impacts (cf. Hulme et al. 2015a,b; Thomas and Palmer 2015; Thomas 2015). Before the 20th
century such a discourse on non-native species did not exist in quite the same form, and the
environmental aims of colonial administrators were mainly focused on issues of production
and sanitation (Thirgood 1987; Barton 2002; Davis 2016), with little or no regard for impacts
on native biodiversity, or indeed on its cultural associations and uses for local people. Although
it may be anachronistic to use the term itself, in considering the environment of Cyprus the
colonial British focused on a subset of ecosystem services, but, unlike today, achieving the
potential ‘provisioning’ or ‘regulating’ services of forests was unfettered by any consideration
of the intrinsic value of native habitats or species, nor apparently of the potential future
weediness of species introduced for forestry or other purposes.
Harris (2007; 2012) documented the approach of the British administration (1878-
1960) to the forests of Cyprus, as well as reviewing the physical environmental history of the
island. Importantly, Harris also critically reviewed what has been said through the ages about
the Cypriot environment—a narrative that appears to have distracted and misled the British
(Harris 2007). Harris (2007) argued that the ‘ruined landscape’ narrative, or ‘pseudo-history’
(Grove and Rackham 2001), of the Mediterranean was the main driving force behind British
forestry policy, and, indeed, all of the reports on the forests of Cyprus from that time emphasise
the ‘degraded’ nature of the island’s landscape (e.g. House of Commons 1880; Wild 1879;
2
For more on the botanical networks that led to such species becoming part of the British colonial landscape
see, amongst others, Barton (2002), Doughty (2000), and Grove (1995).
3
We use the word ‘casual’ here in the ecological sense of a plant that has successfully reproduced (either
sexually or vegetatively), but that has not been observed to maintain its populations over longer periods
(Richardson et al. 2000). That is to say, the species is not considered to be established (or naturalised, an oft-
used synonym) in the area under consideration.

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
Madon 1881; Hutchins 1909), a narrative that is still encountered today (Delipetrou et al. 2008;
cf. Rackham 2017). The most memorable piece of rhetoric is perhaps that of the French forester
P.G. Madon (1881) who urged immediate action for the island’s forests, lest the Mediterranean
“soon count one island less and one rock more”.
This emphasis on restocking and repairing the forests of Cyprus was largely focused on
the mountains: the Southern Range of Paphos and the Troodos and the Northern Range of
Kyrenia (e.g. Thirgood 1987). Lowland forestry, with its extensive use of non-native species,
has been written about to a far lesser extent, although the (re-)afforestation of parts of the
Mesaoria plain in particular was at least of initial interest to British forestry personnel (House
of Commons 1881). No doubt this is partly due to their relative areas, with the state-owned
lowland forests and plantations being in the minority; it may also be a result of the ruined
landscape theory linking with the pervasive idea of the ‘Green Island’ of Cyprus, so admired
and utilised, we are told, in Classical times (Thirgood 1987; cf. Papacostas 2001 and Rackham
2017). The emphasis on the relationship between deforestation and erosion in mountainous
areas, which has been so instrumental in colouring the thoughts and theories of geographers
and ecologists working in arid lands, links to this idea (Grove and Rackham 2001; Harris 2012;
Davis 2016). An additional reason is simply that the forests are largely restricted to the cooler,
moister hills that dominate a large part of the island (Delipetrou et al. 2008; Rackham 2017).
Compared to the mountain forests, it has proven challenging to locate travellers who
have specifically commented on the Akrotiri salt lake and its surrounding marshes, or indeed
similar habitats elsewhere on the island. Most commentaries are indirect, focusing on the
‘unhealthiness’ of the villages and towns near wetlands. For example, the first High
Commissioner’s Report on Cyprus (House of Commons 1880, p. 203), written soon after the
arrival of the British in 1878, noted that the “unenviable notoriety which Larnaca [has] obtained
for unhealthiness [is] principally owing to the close proximity of undrained marshes”. Amongst
the historical travellers’ accounts of Cyprus reviewed by Harris (2007), de Mas Latrie (1870)
and Agnes Smith (1887) also note the three main lowland wetland areas near to Limassol,
Larnaca and Famagusta as centres of general ‘pestilence’. More specifically for our purposes,
the British naturalist Francis Guillemard (1888, pp. 108-109), who stayed near Akrotiri at
Episkopi in the spring of 1887, reported that “[t]he neighbourhood of the salt lakes has a bad
name, and at the village of Akrotiri, which is situated close to them, the infant mortality is said
to be such that there is always one (but only one) baby in the place”; Hutchins (1909) repeats
a similar sentiment over 20 years later.
As for the British commentary on the state of Cyprus’s forests (Harris 2012), the state
of the marshlands was also blamed on the previous administration of the Ottomans, albeit
indirectly. Indeed, the link between forest degradation, erosion, and the resultant siltation and
creation of fens has been noted by Grove and Rackham (2001) to be a part of the ruined
landscape theory of the Mediterranean. Savile (1878, p. 78) provides an example of this for
Cyprus, stating that “when the forests are cut down […] torrents of rain […] wash the vegetable
mould off the slopes into the plains, leaving […] miasma-breeding marshes”.
Additional evidence for the potentially increased problems with malaria in the lowlands
comes from a map supporting a successful 1941 application to the Colonial Office for a
Development & Welfare grant by the then Conservator of Forests, R.R. Waterer (UK National
Archive, Appendix D of document CO 67/328/8). This map clearly delimits the distributions
of the two main malarial mosquito species in Cyprus at that time, Anopheles superpictus and
An. sacharovi (given under the synonym An. elutus). Anopheles sacharovi, still one of the main
vectors for malaria in other parts of the Levant (ECDC 2005-2017), is clearly shown as being
present upstream of Famagusta in temporary riverside marshes, south of Larnaca around its
salt lake, and north of the Akrotiri lake. The area shaded for An. sacharovi on the Akrotiri

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
peninsula approximately matches the forested land under eucalyptus, casuarina and wattle
today (CO 67/328/8). Both An. superpictus and An. sacharovi are vectors for the malarial
parasite Plasmodium vivax, although current reviews suggest that An. sacharovi may be more
problematic for human health, with some evidence suggesting that An. superpictus is more
zoophilic and An. sacharovi more anthropophilic (Sinka et al. 2010; ECDC 2005-2017)
4
. The
drainage of the lowland marshes, then, was a priority for Cyprus’s new British rulers, and one
on which all the latest techniques of ‘scientific forestry’, including the use of non-native
species, would be brought to bear.
Both Thirgood (1987) and Harris (2007) have thoroughly reviewed British forestry
policy in Cyprus, albeit from different sides of the ‘ruined landscape’ argument, and we do not
intend to repeat this material here. However, many of the reports written in the years following
the British occupation contain valuable information on the introduction, establishment, and
spread of the non-native woody species used for the lowland plantations, including the Akrotiri
State Forest
5
. The Akrotiri State Forest was also, at one time (Harris 2007, p. 34), divided into
the Main State Forest north of the lake (the plantation on the marshlands), and the Minor State
Forest to the south (the coastal maquis, or ‘scrub forest’, but with planted additions such as the
non-native Aleppo pine and mosaics of phrygana and steppe communities). Historical accounts
of the habitats surrounding the salt lake, or photographic evidence, may help us to understand
the likely impacts of the afforestation and natural spread of the species concerned, on both
native biodiversity and ecosystem services.
A.E. Wild, an experienced forester briefly seconded from India, was the first person
engaged by the British to report on the forests of Cyprus. In relation to the lowlands, Wild’s
report of 1879 (p. 13) suggests distributing southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) seedlings
to locals “as a sanitary measure, but also with regard to the improvement of the general
appearance of such towns”, although nothing specific is mentioned concerning the main areas
of marsh noted above. It is not clear whether this suggestion for disseminating eucalypts was
followed through at the time
6
, although, later, non-native species were apparently distributed
on a small scale (Bovill 1920).
In 1881 Sir Ralph Biddulph, the High Commissioner, and the Principal Forest Officer
(PFO) Madon corresponded with the British Government and the botanist William Thiselton
Dyer, Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, regarding the afforestation of
the lowland marshes using eucalypts (House of Commons 1881)
7
. The correspondence throws
4
Note the potential for historic shifts between pastoralism and agriculture to have altered the epidemiology of the
disease on the island.
5
The forest has also been known as the Limassol Salt Lake Plantation or Limassol Marsh Plantation, depending
on the report.
6
If it was, the species was not a great success—it does not feature in Meikle (1977).
7
Note that by this date the reputation of certain eucalypts for malaria-related drainage schemes was well
established, partly due to the apparent success of Trappist monks at Tre Fontane near Rome (Doughty 2000).
Some sceptics remained, however (Doughty 2000), Dyer among them. In the letter cited here, Dyer also quotes
Sir Joseph Hooker’s account of his recent visit to Tre Fontane, which is worth repeating here in full: “I made a
point of going to ‘Tre Fontana,’ [sic.] the Trappist convent in the Campagna cured of fever by Eucalyptus! The
fact is, it was inhabited by a few monks, who died off like flies. These were succeeded by the Trappists, who anon
brought 500 acres under cultivation of all sorts, including a few Eucalyptus, now multiplied by thousands of mere
seedlings. Of course the sanitary state of the locality improved at once. Nevertheless, no fewer than three died of
fever there last year. The Government allows a gang of 80 convicts and a guard of soldiers to aid in cultivation;
and this together with a subsidy depends for its continuance on the fever being kept down and Eucalyptus planted.
So of course the monks attribute all to the gum trees, which seem to me to have grown wretchedly compared to
what one sees in the Riviera. I saw very little Eucalyptus elsewhere and no good ones anywhere; the Campagna
winters are too cold.” (House of Commons 1881, p. 107). Gaming bureaucratic systems is apparently not a mortal
sin.

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Cite as: Pescott O.L., Harris S.E., Peyton J.M., Onete M., Martinou A.F., Mountford J.O. (2018) The Forest on the
Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
some light on the challenges of establishing eucalypts on the island, both because of the
particularly cold winter of 1879-80 that killed many saplings, damaging two trial plantations,
and because of the requirement of the eucalypts for the better soils, most of which were already
under the plough. Their fire-promoting properties, or the potential invasiveness of eucalyptus
plantations, were apparently not appreciated at this time; indeed, Pyne (1982, p. 188) suggests
that it was not until the second decade of the 20th century that the fire risks presented by
eucalypts in arid environments began to concern foresters. By the end of 1881, Madon
reportedly had seven additional eucalyptus species with which to experiment, including
“Tereticornis”, a name which may have covered both forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis)
and the variety E. tereticornis var. rostrata, a synonym used for river red gum (E.
camaldulensis); given that he recommends “Tereticornis” for marshland planting, river red
gum is the most likely (Doughty, 2000). Madon had also secured limited funds to establish trial
plantations with the “1st, and most important [aim of the] sanitation of towns” (House of
Commons 1881, pp. 93-94), although fuel for villages is also given as a subsidiary benefit.
The reports of D.E. Hutchins (1909), a “forester-at-large” who acted as a consultant in
many parts of the British Empire (Barton 2002), and of A.K. Bovill (1915, 1920), permanent
PFO on Cyprus between 1896 and 1920, provide detail on the subsequent development of the
Akrotiri plantations. Planting on the peninsula had modest beginnings: in 1893 the
Commissioner of Limassol, Roland L.N. Michell, had “ventured […] to suggest the formation
of a plantation near the Akrotiri salt marsh, with a view to sanitary results […]. A beginning
has just been made
8
, on a very small scale. About four thousand cuttings (of plane, willow,
poplar, and olive) have been planted in a diminutive enclosure […] and I am promised […]
that provision will be made for carrying on the project, by the planting of eucalyptus and other
suitable trees” (House of Commons 1896, p. 61). Bovill (1915) recounts that the plantation was
expanded using planting techniques recommended by Hutchins during his visit in 1909. During
the early 20th century then, the plantation must have been a fairly minor affair: a memorandum
on plantation work in Cyprus written by Bovill in 1902 makes no mention of it. Similarly, a
plan of “Forests and mines” prepared in 1928 as a part of a set of maps of the island (a piece
of propaganda associated with the 50th anniversary of the British occupation) does not depict a
plantation in the area of the current Akrotiri forest, although a linear plantation of wattle
between the peninsula and Limassol, started in 1900 to keep the road clear of drifting sand
(Bovill 1915), is shown (Figure 9.1). Bovill (1915, p. 20) also notes that the Limassol Salt Lake
plantation “has been very difficult to deal with”, and that “[m]any experiments have been made
with all kinds of trees, the most successful being the wattles and pines”. Hutchins’ (1909)
recommended technique of digging trenches and raising banks to increase establishment
success is then mentioned as “fairly successful”, with “the only drawback being the cost”, and
the common refrain that “[f]urther experiments must be carried out” (Bovill 1915).
Figure 9.1 here
Hutchins (1909) describes the salt lake plantation as being 40 acres planted between
1902 and 1908 (about a fifth of the area of the current forest), although with only 10 acres
having “succeeded” (p. 75). His comments, however, reflect Bovill’s, noting “[m]arsh water
close to the surface. Soil cracks badly in summer. Planted with Pinus pinea, Pinus halepensis
9
,
Cypress (common), [and] Acacia cyanophylla [syn. A. saligna]” (Hutchins 1909, p. 39). Bovill
(1915) concludes by optimistically noting the “great extent of land [by the salt lake] to be taken
in hand” and the remunerative potential of the Limassol firewood market. Jens Holmboe
8
Presumably in early 1895, Michell’s report is dated May 15th, 1895.
9
At this point the British did not appear to distinguish the native P. brutia from the non-native halepensis.

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
(1914), a Norwegian botanist who visited Cyprus in the spring and summer of 1905, spending
two days around Akrotiri in May, makes no obvious mention of the site, despite discussing the
woods and plantations of the island in some detail, and having been guided for part of his tour
by Bovill. Holmboe (1914, p. 243) does refer to a stand of eucalypts near Limassol, planted in
1899, but it is not clear that this was at the salt lake. What does seem clear is that the Akrotiri
plantation at this time was modest, failing to thrive, and that further efforts and, indeed,
experimentation with new methods and species would be needed.
The extent of the woody non-natives on Akrotiri today, and their ability to spread
naturally, is not then just a simple matter of what was planted in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. It is clear from the reports of Madon, Wild, Hutchins and Bovill that numerous
species were imported and trialled, with very few of these becoming widely used, and even
fewer becoming naturalised. Even today the eucalypts are not considered to be naturalised
(Hand et al. 2011-2017), although river red gum (E. camaldulensis) has become invasive
elsewhere in the world (Tererai et al. 2013).
Port Jackson wattle, however, appears to have been particularly well-adapted to the
climate and soils of Cyprus, apparently requiring little time before it was being used across the
island in numerous schemes (Bovill 1902; Bovill 1915), although even for this species the shift
to using seed collected on the island rather than imports (Holmboe 1914), and the area over
which it was sown, are likely to have contributed to its rapid naturalisation. In the late 1920s,
developments in forestry techniques under Bovill’s successor as PFO, A.H. Unwin, may have
led to even greater propagule pressure
10
from wattle on native habitats. For example, tractor
sowing of the species led to carpets of saplings in some locations (Figure 9.2; CO 1069/697).
Unwin also continued to use and develop the techniques of Hutchins and Bovill for draining
the marshlands; Figure 9.3 provides an illustration of the use of these methods to establish
eucalypts alongside the freshwater lake to the west of Famagusta, a project begun in 1922 (CO
1069/697). That similar methods were used at Akrotiri is indicated by a report from the Chief
Medical Officer on Cyprus written in 1926 (CO 67/220/15), where both wattle and eucalyptus
are mentioned in this context.
Figure 9.2 here
Figure 9.3 here
Such methods were undoubtedly successful in changing the character of the larger
marshlands of Cyprus, and were used for many years. For example, in the 1940s, in Waterer’s
previously mentioned application for Colonial Office development funds, photos very similar
to Unwin’s are included to support the case. Two in particular highlight the desired transition
from rush (Juncus)-dominated salt meadows to eucalyptus plantation (Figure 9.4; CO 1069/698
and CO 67/310/16)—these photos were taken at the Akrotiri salt lake. The caption to another
photo emphasises the “unproductive marshland at Limassol swamp capable of forest
reclamation which is at present an acute malarial problem and only supports rough grazing and
reed production” (photo number 30, CO 67/310/16).
Figure 9.4 here
It is worth noting that it is not clear whether the use of non-native trees in drainage
schemes significantly reduced the incidence of malaria: the Chief Medical Officer in 1944
10
‘Propagule pressure’ is the term used by ecologists to denote the influence of the number of individuals on the
likelihood of the successful establishment of a species in an area (Lockwood et al. 2009).

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
considered An. sacharovi “easy to eliminate” through drainage, although the figures provided
in that document and elsewhere do not indicate any decrease in malaria over the preceding
decade (CO 67/328/8; Aziz 1947). Hutchins (1909) himself noted that the tree-driven, bank-
and-trench methods of drainage might actually increase malaria, presumably due to the fact
that the trenches would often contain stagnant water of a type favoured by mosquitoes, and
perhaps fewer larval predators. Grove and Rackham (2001) suggest that the expectation of
governments that mosquitoes would not breed in drained fenlands was “naïve”, and note that
some of the worst malaria seen by the historian of mosquito-human interactions, W.H.S. Jones,
was in the Lake Kopáis area of Greece after it was drained (Jones 1907). Indeed, the fact that
Waterer was still constructing major projects to combat malaria in 1940, and that final
eradication seems to have been dependent on DDT (Aziz 1947)
11
, perhaps indicates the limits
of drainage as a strategy in low-lying areas.
4. A forest on the move? Impacts on native plant communities
The growth of the Akrotiri forest continued through the middle of the 20th century, with Port
Jackson wattle (A. saligna), river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), tuart (E.
gomphocephala) and casuarina (Casuarina cunninghamiana) as the main components
(Michaelides 1961; Christodoulou 2003). It is not clear exactly at which point the impacts of
these species on native plant communities began to be of concern to ecologists on Cyprus. Carp
(1980), for example, does not mention the issue for ‘Limassol Salt Lake’ under the ‘Threats’
section in his Directory of Wetlands of International Importance
12
. Hadjikyriakou and
Hadjisterkotis (2002) highlighted the potential problems with wattle and casuarina, and note
that Georgiades (1994) had already classified a number of non-native species as invasive on
Cyprus, including wattle. The thorough study of Christodoulou (2003) appears to be the first
field-based work to attempt a quantification of the impacts of a non-native species on Cyprus,
focusing on the spread of wattle into the salt marshes of Akrotiri; this was followed by the
study of Hadjichambis (2005), who noted the impacts of the same species in dune habitats. Our
observations on the peninsula follow the approach of Christodoulou (2003) in combining GPS
tablet-based mapping of stands of woody non-native species around the lake, with plot
recording within forest stands to the north. Christodoulou (2003) used a ‘gradient transect’
method of recording plots through stands of wattle, thereby intending to capture the response
of plant communities to the presence of the invader. Our observations and methodological
development were limited to the two week period of our visit in October 2015 (OLP, JMP,
MO, and JOM), and therefore we opted to record the plant communities of stands of non-
natives throughout and around the Akrotiri forest in order to understand better the nature of the
communities persisting under the plantation and in surrounding stands. Such observations
should complement the more restricted studies of Christodoulou (2003) and Hadjichambis
(2005); the results of our GPS mapping and plot-based recording will be made available
through an open data repository (Peyton et al. in prep.)
We mapped over 102 ha of woody non-natives on the Akrotiri peninsula (Figure 9.5),
our study area being circumscribed by the Akrotiri-Kolossi road to the west, the northern
boundary of the forest to the north, the sea in the east, and the Akrotiri-Lady’s Mile Beach road
11
Following successful implementation of the strategy described by Aziz (1947), Cyprus was declared officially
malaria free in 1950, with Mehmet Aziz styled as the ‘Great Liberator’ in the London press (Morgan 2010).
12
The information included was derived from a report written by the Conservator of Forests, L. Leontiades, so
this absence could reflect a forester’s bias away from considering plantations as a threat, as much as a lack of
spreading non-natives.

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
to the south. Eucalyptus species and casuarina were largely restricted to the forest north of the
lake (Figure 9.5), whilst wattle was present throughout the forest, along the road in the south,
and in restricted locations on the Lady’s Mile dunes in the east, where evidence of recent wattle
control was also observed (along with the presence of the Cyprus RDB species, sea daffodil,
Pancratium maritimum). As noted above, given the extensive use of Port Jackson wattle
throughout the island, particularly to stabilise sand drifts (Bovill 1915; Christodoulou 2003), it
can be challenging to separate natural spread from plantings; however, it was normally clear
from the distribution of individuals that wattle and casuarina had spread outwards from their
plantings in the forest and along roads. Although eucalypt saplings were occasionally observed
within the Akrotiri forest, these were never abundant and were not observed outside the forest,
or seen encroaching onto the salt marshes. Casuarina is most abundant in the south-western
corner of the Akrotiri forest, where evidence of spread into the adjoining wetlands appeared
clear from the presence of young trees some distance from the main stands (also noted by
Hadjikyriakou and Hadjisterkotis 2002).
Figure 9.5 here
At the time of our visit, the leading edge of casuarina had been burnt in the recent past,
apparently as a means of controlling the advance of the species (G. Hadjikyriakou, retired
Cypriot forester, pers. comm.) The spread of wattle into the salt marshes of the north-eastern
corner of the wetlands, observed by Christodoulou (2003), was still ongoing at the time of our
visit (Peyton and Mountford 2015), and it was clear that a previous ditching operation in the
area (clearly seen in Google Earth satellite photography) was facilitating its spread, presumably
through the provision of a drier micro-habitat for seedling establishment, as promoted by
Hutchins some one hundred years earlier. The ditching in the area was reportedly intended to
support the establishment of another non-native species, the desert fan palm (Washingtonia
filifera), although this initiative was not successful (G. Hadjikyriakou pers. comm.).
The plant communities found within the mature forest do not generally correspond well
with (semi-)natural types, but rather represent relict assemblages modified by the shade of
wattle, casuarina and eucalyptus. Where the water-table is close to the surface and the shade is
less dense, as along access tracks and in clearings, there are patches of common reed
(Phragmites australis) and saw sedge (Cladium mariscus), related to the Phragmition reed-
swamp, and this vegetation becomes prevalent along the south edge of the forest toward the
lake. Although sometimes ascribed (as by AP Marine/Atlantis 2012) to the Annex 1 habitat
type 7210 ‘calcareous fens with Cladium’, the saw sedge vegetation at Akrotiri is in reality a
modified reedbed, though with RDB species such as sea flax (Linum maritimum) and water
mint (Mentha aquatica) in places. These rarities are also present where the tree-cover is absent
(or almost so), and where cutting or grazing exclude common reed and saw sedge, to be
replaced by a mixed rush-community of the Juncion maritimi (Annex 1 habitat 1410
Mediterranean salt-meadows). Very locally where the growth of reeds and rushes is suppressed
by traffic or trampling but where the shade of non-native trees may be dense, a wet sward has
developed which shows a distant floristic relationship to Mediterranean humid grasslands of
the Molinio-Holoschoenion (Annex 1 habitat 6420). The grassland is dominated by genera such
as Aeluropus with patches of forbs such as water germander (Teucrium scordium ssp.
scordioides) and common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica ssp. uliginosa); this habitat is also
the home of the RDB species crypsis (Crypsis factorovskyi) and frog fruit (Phyla nodiflora).
However, the community found on the wet Akrotiri tracks is probably best considered a ruderal
type rather than a semi-natural grassland.

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Elsewhere, ruderal communities are also prevalent where the soil conditions are drier
toward the northern edge of the forest. These ruderal grasslands are almost certainly referable
to the Bromo-Oryzopsion miliaceae alliance and, as well as the planted trees, support
populations of other invasive species such as African boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum) and
Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae). A different vegetation type exists in ruderal situations
where the soil is compacted and the drainage impeded as, for example, along the well-
illuminated track that divides the main forest block from the reedbeds by the lake. Here, sticky
fleabane (Dittrichia viscosa) and couch-grasses (Elymus elongatus etc.) grow together in moist
saline conditions. Adjacent to the forest tracks this fleabane-couch community harbours strong
populations of non-native composites such as fleabane (Conyza) species and saltmarsh aster
(Symphyotrichum squamatum).
Further away from the main forest blocks, Christodoulou (2003) found that Port
Jackson wattle displaced the most sensitive salt marsh and salt meadow species, and reduced
the abundance of the remaining species. This effect was particularly pronounced in heavily
invaded plots. This mirrors the impacts of wattle in other Mediterranean-type and arid
environments (Holmes and Cowling 1997; El-Bana 2008). Our observations suggested a
similar pattern under wattle in halophytic environments, and provide an updated data source
against which to assess spread (Peyton and Mountford 2015; Peyton et al. in prep.) We also
sought to describe the habitats throughout the plantation as a whole, and this, broader approach,
indicated that much of value and interest persists beneath the canopy of Australian trees and
shrubs, albeit in a much modified form from the marshlands observed by British foresters in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The close proximity of the (semi-)natural Fassouri
marshes, west of the Akrotiri-Kolossi road, provides an instructive contrast to the afforested
area (see Tsintides et al. 2002 for a photograph of these marshes), and also highlights how the
gradual establishment of the State Forest must have affected, not just local biodiversity, but
also livelihoods, and a people’s sense of place.
5. Ecosystem services, but which, and for whom?
The historical and biological evidence presented above documents changing values and
practices against a background of ecological fact (as far as it is known), but the response(s) of
the Cypriot is glaringly absent: were the ‘ecosystem services’ promoted by the British and
provided by non-native species useful to local people? Some reports from foresters suggest that
they (eventually) were (e.g. see Couppis 1954 on the ‘Village Fuel Areas’ established
throughout Cyprus), but this is of course one side of the story, and written for the imperial
forestry community at that. Our researches to date have not managed to provide much insight
into the historic, human element of our story, as Harris (2007) managed to do for various,
broader strands within the domain of Cypriot forestry.
Nonetheless, documents in the Cyprus State Archives attest to the fact that local
Cypriots valued marshland enough to seek to appropriate it for personal use (Land Registry
and Surveys: Minute Papers LRS1/19947 1919) or to reclaim it from government ownership
(LRS1/25601 1932). The marshlands were clearly valued for grazing by locals, although, as
noted above, forestry personnel considered the land unproductive, and as “only support[ing]
rough grazing and reed production” (our emphasis; caption to photo number 30, CO
67/310/16). Despite this, we have not so far located information relating to the loss of access
to the Akrotiri marshlands as a result of afforestation (or indeed through the natural spread of
non-natives), but a thorough exploration of the Cyprus State Archives could yield records of

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Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
complaints lodged by locals, especially since the area became a Main State Forest, and as such
is likely to be well documented (Harris 2007).
Today, the Akrotiri forest north of the salt lake is used by locals and visitors for various
purposes, including the collection of wood fuel, apiculture, basket weaving, shooting (although
the forest is within a general game reserve in which hunting is prohibited), photography and
natural history, and other recreational purposes. Apiculture in particular may be the most
profitable use, with locals supplementing their incomes with hives located in many places
throughout the forest (the eucalypts river red gum and tuart are highly valued for this purpose;
Doughty 2000). The harvesting of wattle from the forest for wood fuel has also been
encouraged by the Department of Forests in recent years by charging a small fee per truckload.
Although uptake has been considerably less than initial interest in the scheme suggested (G.
Bullivant and K. Martinou, JSHU, pers. comm.), we have observed such harvesting in the
forest. However, this minor use is unlikely to contribute much to the reduction of the impacts
of wattle on ecological communities (and does not of course impact on casuarina), and we do
not know whether wood collectors consider this aspect of their activity.
The biodiversity value of the area has already been discussed in detail above, and this
value is frequently cited as a key feature of the area in many documents, including the
management plan for the area (Sovereign Base Areas Administration 2012), a local community
consultation on this plan (Sovereign Base Areas Administration 2006), and other reports (e.g.
Perdiou 2010; Hadjikyriakou 2011). More broadly, Cypriot interest in and support for the
environment appears to be strong, based on both qualitative and quantitative social survey work
(Michaelidou and Decker 2003), some of which has focused on the Akrotiri peninsula (Birol
et al. 2008). However, it is not clear that national surveys (Michaelidou and Decker 2003), or
surveys conducted in terms of ‘Willingness To Pay’ thought-experiments (Birol et al. 2008),
will necessarily capture local responses to changes to management or land use in the area, or
the amount to which the non-native forest, or local native habitats such as the salt marshes, are
valued, habitats which may be less emotive to Cypriots than the mountain forests (cf.
Michaelidou and Decker 2003).
Development of the surrounding area is welcomed in some quarters (e.g. see Christou
2016), but there is also concern about the impacts such developments will have on the rare and
protected species and habitats of the peninsula (P. Charilaou, Akrotiri Environment and
Education Centre, pers. comm.) Developments that have begun are already having small
impacts: for example, a new drainage pipe that flows into the salt lake (34°38’29.57” N,
32°59’24.44” E) has resulted in an area of fresher marsh and increased the cover of common
reed (Phragmites australis) in this location (OLP and JMP, pers. obs. March 2017) at the likely
expense of the Annex 1-listed salt meadow communities. The drainage pipe is associated with
a new golf course which has been approved for construction on former citrus plantation land.
Whether such developments will lead to environmental changes that facilitate the non-native
species in the area remains to be seen, but, if other development plans for the western Limassol
area come to fruition (Christou 2016), then it is possible that the increased demand on fresh
water, and the possibility of eutrophication, may interact to promote further invasion,
particularly as both wattle and casuarina are able to establish in the fresher, drier areas of the
marsh.
6. Conclusion
We have noted earlier the complex interplay between ecological fact and the changing systems
of valuation brought to bear on the world over time, whether through science, administration,

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Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
or the over-arching effects of cultural time and place. We have attempted to describe an
ongoing, multifaceted, biological invasion in a set of threatened Mediterranean habitats,
documenting the ecological and historical processes that have interacted to produce the current
forest on the peninsula at Akrotiri and its overspills. The environmental historian Stephen Pyne
(2005) has emphasized the necessity of utilising an interdisciplinary approach, linking science
and the humanities, in order to illuminate and solve environmental problems. Although we
make no claim to have solved any problems, we hope that this chapter, a collaboration between
ecologists and an environmental historian, has at least described the elements of a problem
clearly, and to have illuminated some of its ecological and historical elements and foundations.
The non-native-driven habitat conversion engineered by British foresters, and the
associated invasions, have been driven both by ideological narratives and the practical process
of finding species that could thrive in the Cypriot environment, to provide, at least in the eyes
of the planters, multiple benefits to the island. We are by now well into an era that values
nativeness, and that legislates for the protection of rare and endangered native species and
habitats; whether these, often top-down (Michaelidou and Decker 2003), norms will lead to the
protection of local diversity from invasive non-natives, or other drivers of environmental
change at Akrotiri, is a question for the future. The outcome will provide a fascinating insight
into the environmental values of modern-day Cyprus.
Acknowledgements
We thank C.S. Christodoulou, Simon Pooley, Chris Preston, Ana Isabel Queiroz and Ioannis
Vogiatzakis for useful comments on the text. JOM and JMP thank COST Action TD1209
Alien Challenge for funding their Short Term Scientific Mission to Cyprus; we also thank
this COST Action for funding image reproduction and licensing. OLP thanks NERC CEH
Wallingford for a Learning & Development award to fund his participation, and A.-M.
Catterall (Druce-Fielding Herbarium, University of Oxford) and H. Alexander (UK National
Archives) for their assistance. We would also like to thank all of those who helped us at
Akrotiri, including Capt. G. Bullivant (JSHU), P. Charilaou (AEEC), G. Hadjikyriakou, and
N. Andreou (JSHU).

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Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
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Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
Figure legends
Figure 9.1. The “Forests and mines” subpanel from a larger set of maps of Cyprus
highlighting the contributions of the British administration to the island in 1928. Each panel
also contains a summary of the situation in 1878 (the year of the British occupation),
presumably intended to highlight the achievements of the administration on its 50th
anniversary (© UK National Archives, CO 1047/364).
Figure 9.2. “Tractor sowing of Acacia Cyanophylla [sic.] after 8 months, Xylotimbo Forest”.
From an album of photographs prepared by A.H. Unwin, 1934, as a commemorative gift to
the visiting Financial Commissioner for Cyprus, Sir Ralph Oakden (© UK National Archives,
CO 1069/697).
Figure 9.3. “Freshwater lake, Eucalyptus 4 years old”. Near Famagusta. As with Figure 9.2, it
is likely that the figure in the photo is A.H. Unwin himself. Also from the Oakden
commemorative album (© UK National Archives, CO 1069/697).
Figure 9.4. Photos 31 and 32 from R.R. Waterer’s application for Colonial Office
development funds, 1941. The left hand photo (31) shows the salt meadows at Akrotiri with
the “thriving plantation established in background”. The right hand photo (32) shows the
“[m]arshland adjoining that shown in 30 above [the same location as photo 31] planted with
fast growing Eucalyptus about 4 years old” (© UK National Archives, CO 1069/698).
Figure 9.5. Stands of woody non-natives recorded in October 2015. Eucalypts include E.
camaldulensis and E. gomphocephala. The “Mixed” category contains both stands of
casuarina and intimate mixtures of eucalypts and wattle that could not be separated at the
scale of the mapping. Field notes associated with these polygons provide more detail on their
composition (Peyton et al. in prep.). Note that the polygons in this image have been given
thick borders to ensure that smaller stands along the southern lake shore are visible at this
scale, therefore all polygons appear slightly larger than their actual mapped areas.

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Figures
Figure 9.1.

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
Figure 9.2.

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
Figure 9.3.

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A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
Figure 9.4.

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Peninsula: Impacts, Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial Legacy in Cyprus. In: Queiroz A., Pooley S. (eds) Histories of
Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean. Environmental History, vol 8, pp. 195-217. Springer, Cham
Figure 9.5.