Rebalancing the management of naturalized Opuntia in Spanish territories under aridification: taxonomy, invasion status, cultural value, and climate adaptation

This Perspective reassesses the management of long-established Spanish Opuntia populations by synthesizing evidence from regulatory documents, historical and agricultural sources, ecological studies, public demographic data, and cultural and economic materials. We argue that the current regulatory framing is too coarse to guide management across taxonomically uncertain, ecologically heterogeneous, historically embedded, and culturally valued populations, especially under conditions of aridification, water scarcity, land degradation, and shifting conservation baselines. Demographic records show a sharp decline of bushes recorded as Opuntia maxima Mill. in mainland Spain after the spread of Dactylopius opuntiae , complicating any simple narrative of uniform expansion. Ecological evidence likewise suggests context-dependent effects. Historical and cultural evidence further shows that Spanish Opuntia populations have been linked to food practices, rural livelihoods, field boundaries, cochineal production, landscape identity, and local memory. Under the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, we propose differentiated, nature-positive management based on taxonomic clarification, population-level ecological assessment, restoration planning where control is justified, and consideration of socio-ecological value where ecological risk is low or manageable.