Demand for drought tolerant plants might bring in new invasives

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

A research paper in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment demonstrates how new sources of plants and demand for new plants as climate changes may lead to new invasive plant introductions.  Emerging sources of nursery imports include parts of South America, Africa, and northern Europe.  Many new introductions are drought-tolerant plants as water restrictions and xeriscaping have increased demand.

The article encourages the use of weed risk assessments, but points out that with new suppliers, a history of invasion by a particular plant might be hard to come by and invasion history is an important factor in determining risk.    On a positive note, the authors point out that one nursery promoting drought tolerant plants has mostly increased the number of drought tolerant native plants it offers.

Bradley, B. A. et al. 2012. Global change, global trade, and the next wave of plant invasions.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10(1):20-28.

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Survey shows Maine nursery industry concern over invasive plants

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

A survey of Maine nursery and landscaping businesses showed that most respondents were concerned about invasive ornamental plants and tried to steer their customers towards buying non-invasive plants.  Most would also support labeling of invasive ornamental plants or would not carry invasive plants.  Interestingly, most were neutral about whether their customers were concerned about invasive plants.

Coats, V. C., L. B. Stack, and M. E. Rumpho.  2011. Maine nursery and landscape industry perspectives on invasive plant issues.  Invasive Plant Science and Management 4:378-389.

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Consumers willing to pay extra for non-invasive plants?

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

I was initially excited by the title of a new research article by Yue et al., “Do native and invasive labels affect consumer willingness to pay for plants? Evidence from experimental auctions” published in Agricultural Economics (2011) 42:195-205.  But after reading the definitions they used for native and invasive and seeing the plants they chose to test, I’m not sure whether this study does much to answer the title’s question.  Their plant pairings were:

  • Dianthus armeria with Dianthus repens
  • Daucus carota with Daucus pucillus
  • Oxalis vulcanicola with Oxalis crassipes
  • Gaura coccinea with Gaura lindheimeri
  • Epilobium angustifolium (MN genotype with E. angustifolium (AK genotype)

If the people chosen for the survey knew what these plants were it is unlikely that they would view them as a very invasive.  I’m not familiar with survey research using experimental auctions, but maybe it would have been better to make up a list of imaginary plants and label them as invasive or not invasive.  It it isn’t clear whether the participants were asked about their specific knowledge of the plants or not.  The question though is an important one as more states are contemplating labeling invasive plants in the horticulture industry, so I hope someone redoes this study.

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