For years, Mediterranean farmers defended prickly pear against removal; a study suggests the cactus can help native plants recover on degraded drylands

Across parts of the Mediterranean, farmers have pushed back for years against efforts to remove prickly pear cactus from their land, even as land managers treated it as an invasive species that should be eradicated. Many local communities argued that the plant was doing more good than harm by protecting soil and surviving where few other plants could.

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