Iceland's Deserts Are Turning Purple - here's why

[Music] iceland is stunning but it is also a degraded landscape covered in deserts which happen to be expanding day by day however something quite unusual has been happening in these deserts they're turning purple and this is the work of a rather peculiar plant that has made its mark on the landscape so this this is lupine it's invasive but it also fertilizes the soil and can play a really important role in reforesting iceland i also think it looks really nice and it actually smells pretty good so it is a really interesting plant but it has parked a debate in iceland and in this video we want to tell you all about that story hit the looping and love the looping you are experiencing various emotions their channel by the way is linked below it's well worth checking out in this video we'll try to capture the essence of the debate but the ultimate purpose that we have here is to start a proper conversation in the comments about invasive species and their role so feel free to jump in now let's dive a little deeper into the ecology of this species lupinus nutensis is a plant from the lupinus gene part of the fabasiae legume family it is native to north america more specifically alaska and it's easily recognizable by its distinct blue flowery stem it thrives in sandy and stony soil and it can even grow in bare gravel when mature it can be as tall as 120 centimeters and live as long as 20 years with the biggest recorded plants having up to 100 stems to put that into context a plant with 25 flowering stems can provide up to 2000 seeds in one season this means that on flat lands the lupine can expand approximately 1 to 3 meters every year but potentially much more on steeper landscapes or through the wind and water streams and here in iceland there are plenty of steep windy landscapes covered in streams as you can see this species has no problem growing and reproducing but it also has another trick for us it is a nitrogen fixing species but more on this later now let's look at how it got here in the first place so this here is lupinus no katensis otherwise known as the sand blue pine and it's actually not native to iceland it is a north american plant which was introduced to the country in 1945. after a trip to alaska hakon bjarnsen the director of the icelandic forest service at the time returned home with and you might not believe me two spoonfuls worth of lupinus nutkatenzi seas that was all it took to get us to where we are today this was the start of a big change in iceland the plant was brought over primarily as a restoration tool bjarnerson was aware of the plant's nitrogen fixing capabilities and he saw the potential of using the plant as a tool to restore iceland's flora in its largely barren lands so as you can see the soil quality here is extremely poor and it is exactly this kind of place where the lupine is quite beneficial lupin quickly became popular not only for its restoration utilities but also for its beauty in the post-war times the lupine was also preferred over grass as it was more economical due to its self-fertilization properties it is fair to say that for the first 40 years of its existence in iceland sand lupine was greeted with open arms i mean they even had a door-to-door campaign that sold these little elf heads with a birch seat and a lupine scene inside however after this honeymoon phase the debate started to ramp up but what is it all about we want to explore the arguments on both sides and try to get a better grip on the subject so now let's start with the positives the majority of people are struck by its beauty the vast fields of blue lupine which can be seen around mid-summer have become an attraction for both the icelandic people and tourists alike now that we got the obvious one out of the way let's have a look at how it is changing the landscape so i'm here in the desert where you can see the perfect example of how lupine is recolonizing this area so on my right hand side you can see essentially a large field of lupin and on the left you can see the desert and the plants are slowly year by year inching forward and recolonizing this area and it's really impressive because it's the only plant that is doing this none of the native plants are doing so the fertile soil that the lupine creates is quite useful to start planting successfully it has been proven to bring back a number of invertebrates such as earthworms that also have an important role to play in their ecosystem by converting bigger organic matter into humus no not hummus but humus the dark organic matter found in fertile soil the abundance of earthworms not only helps with the quality of the soil but it also provides a great food source for a number of birds making lupine an attractive feeding ground so it provides a really unique function in stopping desertification and in addition to that it's laying the groundwork for future forests because it's injecting the soil with nitrogen and nitrogen is key for many other plant species including trees of course which is how our story begins in practice this means that their roots are colonized by bacteria which will extract nitrogen from the air and fix it in the ground it is important to note that there are other nitrogen fixers among the native flora namely les mousse arenarius a native species of grass also known as lime grass however it is not comparable to the lupine in its ability to colonize new areas in recent years there's even been research into the possibility of using the seeds as feed for animals and potentially a food source for humans as seen with other species of lupine found in southern europe i can attest to this because where i grew up in portugal people love snacking on thermos which are the seeds of lupinous albus as exemplified by my mossy earth team member dio who enjoys them with a nice cold beer now before we talk about all the problems with the lupine you might be wondering why do we care about it at all well it turns out that the area which we are reforesting here in iceland is simply covered in it and this will be a reality in many of our future projects here on this island so we wanted to gather some opinions and if that didn't make sense to you i can explain with our little plug you see here at most earth we're trying to bring back as much wilderness as we can and we fund this with our community membership it's essentially a monthly subscription that restores nature through reforestation in places like iceland scotland or the carpathians as well as a diverse mix of rewilding projects such as cleaning up fragile cave ecosystems re-flooding wetlands and even reintroducing wildlife we have a discord where you can chat with a team as well as an app where you can stay up to date with all the work and of course we make videos here on youtube about our projects so if you're interested in becoming a member and supporting projects like our project here in iceland you can head over to mossy.earth to see what we're all about there'll be a link in the description and also in a pinned comments down below now let's get back to the lupine even though lupine is a great tool for restoration we must remind ourselves of its negative impact as well oh christ i'm sick of bloody death of them there are a lot of people in iceland that don't like the fact that lupine is non-native and you can add to that list the drastic impact it's having on the landscape and of course its risk to native plants and that is the point we'd like to focus on based on aerial footage there's an estimate that lupine already covers 0.4 of iceland's land surface this might seem small but when you consider that only about 1.5 percent of iceland is forested it puts it into perspective this is actually an alarming figure which combined with the exponential growth rate of invasive species could see the plant completely take over the island this could be really damaging to certain species such as the european golden plover which has been negatively impacted by the lupine taking over their nesting grounds in the dwarf shrub heathlands with blueberry and bilberry being particularly vulnerable now this is a cherished ecosystem and a cherished bird here in iceland as every year its migration marks the beginning of the summer for all its positive effects it can't be stressed enough that if the lupine expansion is left unchecked and if it's not managed within strict guidelines iceland's native flora could be at risk in our view this is what needs to happen lupine will never be eradicated so it might be worth using it wherever it makes sense but controlling it in the areas where it could be damaging and really keeping a good eye on it so what do you think should happen with the lupine and what about other invasive species that have a potential benefit to their ecosystem please let us know in the comments below we think that invasives are often a complicated thing to judge after all it's just a plant that somehow never managed to get here and in this case it's doing such an important job that it's hard to judge whether it should be removed or whether we should just let it spread there are many stones we've left unturned in this story but i hope you got a new perspective now if you want to see more about our work here in iceland be sure to check out this video right here until next time cheers

Channel: Mossy Earth

Views: 6,415,147

Keywords: Lupine, Lupin, Lupinus nootkatensis, Iceland, Purple Plant, Purple, Restoration, Invasive Species, Lupin restoring Soil, Lupine Gravel, Lupine Desert, Lupine Iceland, Lupin Iceland, Lupine Europe, Lupine Alaska, Reforestation, Birds, Golden Plover, European Golden plover, Purple Desert

Id: pQ-dSxYonog

Length: 9min 3sec (543 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 25 2022