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

Chapter 9
The Forest on the Peninsula: Impacts,
Uses and Perceptions of a Colonial
Legacy in Cyprus
O. L. Pescott, S. E. Harris, J. M. Peyton, M. Onete, A. F. Martinou
and J. O. Mountford
Abstract Throughout history the values and meanings attached to habitats and
species in particular places have seen considerable change. Such shifts in per-
spective 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 consid-
ered 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.
Keywords Invasive non-native species Alien species Colonialism
Acacia saligna Eucalyptus
O. L. Pescott (&)J. M. Peyton J. O. Mountford
NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) Wallingford, Benson Lane,
Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB, UK
e-mail: olipes@nerc.ac.uk
S. E. Harris
Eastern Michigan University, 900 Oakwood St., Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA
M. Onete
Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Splaiul Independentei Nr. 296,
060031 Bucharest, Romania
A. F. Martinou
Joint Services Health Unit (JSHU), Akrotiri, Cyprus
©Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
A. I. Queiroz and S. Pooley (eds.), Histories of Bioinvasions in the Mediterranean,
Environmental History 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74986-0_9
195

9.1 Introduction
Over and above the fundamental, discoverable truths of ecology and the environ-
ment, 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 consid-
ered 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 environ-
mental priorities. We first provide an overview of these semi-natural and anthro-
pogenic 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.
9.2 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 arti-
ficial 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,
196 O. L. Pescott et al.

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 biodi-
versity 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 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
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).
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 197

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’sFlora (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 classifications focused on Cyprus alone have classified the
Akrotiri maquis as a coastal subtype of the Ceratonio-Pistacion lentisci charac-
terised 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 cunning-
hamiana), 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
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.
198 O. L. Pescott et al.

plantation woodland thins out. The origins and impacts of this plantation are
considered further in this chapter.
9.3 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 considera-
tion 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 environ-
mental 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; 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
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 199

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;
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] princi-
pally 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 specif-
ically 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 mos-
quito species in Cyprus at that time, Anopheles superpictus and An. sacharovi
200 O. L. Pescott et al.

(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 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 biodi-
versity 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
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).
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 201

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 some light on the challenges of
establishing eucalypts on the island, both because of the particularly cold winter of
1879–1880 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
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.
8
Presumably in early 1895, Michell’s report is dated May 15th, 1895.
202 O. L. Pescott et al.

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
(Fig. 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).
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
Fig. 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)
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 203

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
(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, experi-
mentation 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 1902,1915), 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 con-
tributed 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 (Fig. 9.2;CO
1069/697). Unwin also continued to use and develop the techniques of Hutchins
and Bovill for draining the marshlands; Fig. 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
9
At this point the British did not appear to distinguish the native P. brutia from the non-native
halepensis.
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).
204 O. L. Pescott et al.

written in 1926 (CO 67/220/15), where both wattle and eucalyptus are mentioned in
this context.
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 devel-
opment 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 (Fig. 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).
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 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
Fig. 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)
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 205

often contain stagnant water of a type favoured by mosquitoes, and perhaps fewer
larval predators. Grove and Rackham (2001) suggest that the expectation of gov-
ernments 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
Fig. 9.3 “Freshwater lake, Eucalyptus 4 years old”. Near Famagusta. As with Fig. 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)
206 O. L. Pescott et al.

dependent on DDT (Aziz 1947),
11
perhaps indicates the limits of drainage as a
strategy in low-lying areas.
9.4 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
Fig. 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)
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).
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 207

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 inva-
sive 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
(Fig. 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 to the south. Eucalyptus species and casuarina
were largely restricted to the forest north of the lake (Fig. 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 plant-
ings; 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
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.
208 O. L. Pescott et al.

appeared clear from the presence of young trees some distance from the main stands
(also noted by Hadjikyriakou and Hadjisterkotis 2002).
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
Fig. 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
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 209

(clearly seen in Google Earth satellite photography) was facilitating its spread,
presumably through the provision of a drier micro-habitat for seedling establish-
ment, 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 corre-
spond 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. ulig-
inosa); this habitat is also the home of the RDB species crypsis (Crypsis fac-
torovskyi) 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.
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 box-
thorn (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 commu-
nity 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
210 O. L. Pescott et al.

reduced the abundance of the remaining species. This effect was particularly pro-
nounced 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.
9.5 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’pro-
moted 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 marsh-
lands 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 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,
9 The Forest on the Peninsula 211

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 affect 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 man-
agement 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 plan-
tation land. Whether such developments will lead to environmental changes that
facilitate non-native species invasions 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.
212 O. L. Pescott et al.

9.6 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, 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 has 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 Cypriots.
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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