Systematics and management of natural resources: the case of Spartina species on European shores

Discrepancies in the identification of some plants and, in consequence on their autochthonous or allochthonous character, can lead to the adoption of inappropriate habit management strategies such as conservation, control, elimination, etc. A clear illustration of this is the case of a plant with an evident expansive behaviour located on the North Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, which has been considered by some authors as Spartina versicolor, a native of the European coasts. However, other authors have identified this plant as Spartina patens, originally from the North American Atlantic coasts, but introduced on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe. This species shows an invading behaviour, playing a clear and evident role in the transformation of the habitats that it colonizes. In this work, results based on the use of sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nrDNA, widely used in taxonomy and molecular phylogeny between closely related species, is reported. These data indicate that the identity of those plants growing on the European littoral is similar to those native to the North American Atlantic coasts.