Berberis darwinii exists as varying habits in New Zealand, from shrubs with interlaced branches, reaching 3-4m in height and 3-6m wide in the open and at the forest edge to lianoid small trees growing to about 10m and spreading 15m under the forest canopy (Allen & Wilson, 1992). Dispersal is key to Berberis darwinii's survival as shown by MacAlpine & Jesson (2008). They found great numbers of seeds dispersed at least 150m, with others also being consistantly detected up to 450m away from the parent population. This was further shown in their study with seedling survival; nearly all seedlings under the parent population died within the first 5 months of germination. Despite being considered a shade-tolerant species (Webb et al 1988), MacAlpine & Jesson (2008) and MacAlpine et al (2008) have shown that B. darwinii actually requires high light environments to germinate. It is tolerant of both frost and drought (Allen 1991; Timmins & Mackenzie 1995; as seen in McAlpine & Jesson, 2007)

Berberis darwinii flowers in Spring (August to November) and fruits in Summer (December to February) in New Zealand, (MacAlpine & Jesson, 2008), although fruits and flowers can both be seen on the species nearly year-round (Webb et al, 1988; as seen in McAlpine & Jesson, 2008).

The main pollinator in New Zealand of Berberis darwinii is the honey bee (Apis mellifera) (Allen & Wilson, 1992).

Preventative measures: On the Falkland Islands, Whitehead (2008; as seen in Oyley et al, 2008) conducted a risk assessment on potentially invasive species. Berberis darwinii scored 18. Any species with a score over 15 is considered invasive.

Physical: Several management techniques have been trialled on B. darwinii in New Zealand (Ward & Henzell, 2004), each a combination of physical and chemical methods. Cut-Stem treatment on saplings proved very effective and involves the cutting of all sapling stems coupled with an application of herbicide. A Wedge-Method and a Trunk Injection method, whilst not entirely physical, each proved very effective when also coupled with herbicide. The Wedge-Method involves the cutting of wedges out of the trees at constant intervals and applying herbicide within each wedge. The trunk Injection technique involves the drilling of holes into the main tree trunks and injecting herbicide within each hole. The Cut-Stem and Wedge-Method each had a 100% kill rate in trials, whereas the Trunk Injection had an 80-90% kill rate. These methods have only been trialled within New Zealand (Ward & Henzell, 2004).

Chemical: Several management techniques have been trialled on B. darwinii in New Zealand (Ward & Henzell, 2004), each a combination of physical and chemical methods. Cut-Stem treatment on saplings proved very effective and involves the cutting of all sapling stems coupled with an application of herbicide. A Wedge-Method and a Trunk Injection method, each proved very effective when also coupled with herbicide. The Wedge-Method involves the cutting of wedges out of the trees at constant intervals and applying herbicide within each wedge. The trunk Injection technique involves the drilling of holes into the main tree trunks and injecting herbicide within each hole. The Cut-Stem and Wedge-Method each had a 100% kill rate in trials, whereas the Trunk Injection had an 80-90% kill rate. The most effective herbicide found within these trials was the Vigilant herbicide (a mixture of 5% picloram potassium salt). These methods have only been trialled within New Zealand (Ward & Henzell, 2004).

Biological: MacAlpine et al (2008) suggest that controlling efforts should be directed at removing individuals in high light as opposed to across all environments, due to its fast growth capabilities in such an environment. MacAlpine & Jesson (2008) further suggest that control should focus on elimination of the seed source, however when this is not possible, efforts should ignore seedlings under parent populations as they generally don't survive anyway, and that the seed bank should be of no concern as most seeds do not last for more than 1 year.