Water hyacinth used for counteracting algal blooms

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Sylvan Kaufman

In a controversial experiment in Florida, researchers are stocking King’s Bay with floating pens of water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) to reduce algal blooms.  Water hyacinth was removed from the bay beginning in the late 1950s, but Hydrilla replaced it and now algal blooms have become an issue in the lake.  Water hyacinth is good at removing pollutants from water and shading out algae.  In addition, manatees love it!

The pens also contain two other non-native species (called native in the original article), water lettuce and frog’s bit, considered less invasive by the some, but the article does not address whether these two plants would serve the same function as the water hyacinth.

Read more at the University of Washington’s Conservation web site and for updates see the Florida Springs Institute.

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Forest Fragments in Managed Ecosystems Study – Invasive plant habitat projects

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Sylvan Kaufman

At the Delaware Invasive Species Conference this week two Delaware researchers presented some preliminary findings from research done through the FRAME long-term ecosystem study in northern Delaware.  Ph.D. candidate Solny Adalsteinsson is finding more ticks under multiflora rose than uninvaded areas 25 meters away.  However, uninvaded forest fragments had more ticks than invaded fragments did overall.  She is currently collecting data on Lyme disease infection prevalence and tick burdens on mice.

Dr. Greg Shiver studies birds in the FRAME fragments.  He is looking at whether there is a link between invaded sites and the lack of calcium-rich prey important for breeding birds.

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Composting invasive plants

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Sylvan Kaufman

Composting invasive plants has to be done carefully to fully kill seeds and other potential propagules.  Researchers in Texas built a composting facility to handle wetland invasive plants and report on their experience in an article in Invasive Plant Science and Management.  Wouldn’t it be great to turn those invasive plants into compost to raise native seedlings?

Erica J. Meier, Tina M.Waliczek, & Michael L. Abbott. 2014. Composting Invasive Plants in the Rio Grande River. Invasive Plant Science and Management, http://www.wssajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1614/IPSM-D-13-00089.1

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Factors that make temperate forests susceptible to invasion

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Sylvan Kaufman

Higher light availability, later spring leaf-out, and higher soil nitrate levels in intact forests all correlate with a greater abundance of invasive plants.  The authors of this study looked at interior forest understories where different canopy species resulted in different resource levels.  One of the trees studied was black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia.  This tree is native to a small part of the United States, but was widely planted in the eastern and central U.S.  It may facilitate plant invasions into forests because of it fixes nitrogen and has relatively high light levels under its canopy.

Dreiss, L.M. and J. C. Volin.  2013. Influence of leaf phenology and site nitrogen on invasive species establishment in temperate deciduous forest understories.  Forest Ecology and Management 296:1-8.

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Which Eucalyptus are High Risk?

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

Eucalyptus are being considered as possible biofuel and timber crops in tropical and subtropical parts of the United States.  A group of researchers assessed 38 Eucalyptus species currently being tested and cultivated in the U.S. for their risk of becoming invasive.  They used a modification of the Australian Weed Risk Assessment protocol.  14 of the 38 taxa were found to be high risk.

Doria R. Gordon, S. Luke Flory, Aimee L. Cooper, & Sarah K. Morris. 2012. Assessing the invasion risk of Eucalyptus in the United States using the Australian weed risk assessment. International Journal of Forestry Research, 2012 Issue, pp 1-7, doi:10.1155/2012/203768

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Invasive grasses selfish in soil conditioning

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

A greenhouse study on native and non-native grasses from the Great Basin looks at changes in soil nutrient levels and soil microbes among species.  The researchers found that although both native and non-native grasses condition soils, the changes caused by native plants tended to favor the growth of other species, while conditioning by the non-native grasses tended to favor only their own growth.  The non-native grasses studied included Bromus tectorum, Taeniatherum caput-medusae, Agropyron cristata, and Aegilops triuncialis.  These were compared to the native grasses Elymus elymoides, Pseudoroegmeria spicata, and Vulpia microstachys.

Perkins, L. B. and Nowak, R. S. (2012). Native and non-native grasses generate common types of plant–soil feedbacks by altering soil nutrients and microbial communities. Oikos, online 31 May 2012. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20592.x

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Controlling Para grass without herbicides

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

Para grass, Urochloa mutica, grows in the southeastern United States in fields, marshes and swamps.  It spreads by runners to form dense stands. It can be controlled with herbicides, but managers often wish to avoid using herbicides in sensitive wetland areas.  Research on non-chemical control methods in Florida show that Para grass can be controlled using a combination of flame weeding or mowing and flooding.   Particularly in areas where water levels can be manipulated, burning or cutting plants prior to flooding proved can be an effective means of killing Para grass.

Sushila Chaudhari, Brent A. Sellers, Stephen V. Rockwood, Jason A. Ferrell, Gregory E. MacDonald, Kevin E. Kenworthy. 2012. Nonchemical Methods for Paragrass (Urochloa mutica) Control. Invasive Plant Science and Management: January-March 2012, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 20-26.

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How wide to stream buffers need to be to reduce plant invasions?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Sylvan Kaufman

Most riparian buffer regulations are set to reduce nutrient inputs to waterways, but riparian buffers also serve as habitat for native plants and animals.  Plant invasions can significantly alter riparian habitats.  A new paper by Ferris et al. looks at plant invasions along riparian corridors of different widths within the White Clay Creek Watershed in Pennsylvania and Delaware.   They find that wider areas (15 – 25 m wide and wider) had significantly lower rates of invasion by garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus).  However, even the widest areas were still invaded by Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora).

Ferris, G., V. D’Amico, and C. K. Williams. 2012. Determining effective riparian buffer width for nonnative plant exclusion and habitat enhancement.  International Journal of Ecology 2012. Available online: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijeco/2012/170931/



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