scholarly journals Invasion Shadows: The Accumulation and Loss of Ecological Impacts from an Invasive Plant

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Tekiela ◽  
Jacob N. Barney
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Legacy Effects ◽  
Japanese Stiltgrass ◽  
Biodiversity Changes

Ecological impacts from invasive plants that have been identified include reductions in biodiversity, changes in resource cycling, and disruptions of ecosystem function. To mitigate these negative ecological impacts, managers work to remove invasive plants. However, removal does not necessarily immediately lead to a return to the uninvaded ecological state. Similarly, the accumulation rate of ecological impacts following invader establishment is almost entirely unknown for most species, hindering identification of optimal management times. The accumulation and loss (so-called legacy effects) of impacts following invader establishment and removal represent an “invasion shadow.” To begin to understand invasion shadows, we measured the changes in biotic and abiotic ecological impacts during establishment and following removal of the forest understory invader Japanese stiltgrass. We found that when the abiotic metrics were considered, seeded areas became more functionally similar to the invaded landscape and removed areas became more similar to the uninvaded landscape. However, while the plant community did not change in a 3-yr period during a new invasion, following invader removal, it became less similar to both the invaded and uninvaded landscape altogether, suggesting legacies. Surprisingly, all changes occurred almost immediately and persisted following invader establishment and removal. Our results show, at least in a 3-yr period, that ecosystems can respond to changes in invader abundance, and in some cases simply removing the invader could result in long-term changes to the resident plant community.

scholarly journals Competitive Interactions of Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus L.) Cytotypes in Submersed and Emergent Experimental Aquatic Plant Communities

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan E. Harms
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Aquatic Plant ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Depth Gradient ◽  
Common Garden Experiments

The ability to invade communities in a variety of habitats (e.g., along a depth gradient) may facilitate establishment and spread of invasive plants, but how multiple lineages of a species perform under varying conditions is understudied. A series of greenhouse common garden experiments were conducted in which six diploid and four triploid populations of the aquatic invasive plant Butomus umbellatus L. (Butomaceae) were grown in submersed or emergent conditions, in monoculture or in a multispecies community, to compare establishment and productivity of cytotypes under competition. Diploid biomass overall was 12 times higher than triploids in the submersed experiment and three times higher in the emergent experiment. Diploid shoot:root ratio was double that of triploid plants in submersed conditions overall, and double in emergent conditions in monoculture. Relative interaction intensities (RII) indicated that triploid plants were sixteen times more negatively impacted by competition under submersed conditions but diploid plants were twice as impacted under emergent conditions. Recipient communities were similarly negatively impacted by B. umbellatus cytotypes. This study supports the idea that diploid and triploid B. umbellatus plants are equally capable of invading emergent communities, but that diploid plants may be better adapted for invading in submersed habitats. However, consistently lower shoot:root ratios in both monoculture and in communities suggests that triploid plants may be better-adapted competitors in the long term due to increased resource allocation to roots. This represents the first examination into the role of cytotype and habitat on competitive interactions of B. umbellatus.

scholarly journals Invasive Plants Differentially Impact Forest Invertebrates, Providing Taxon-Specific Benefits by Enhancing Structural Complexity

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Landsman ◽  
John Paul Schmit ◽  
Elizabeth R. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Plant Management ◽  
Grass Cover ◽  
Invasive Plant Species ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Japanese Stiltgrass

Exotic plant species often negatively affect native herbivores due to the lack of palatability of the invading plant. Although often unsuitable as food, certain invasive species may provide non-nutritional ecological benefits through increased habitat structural complexity. To understand the potential for common invasive forest plant species of the eastern United States to benefit invertebrate communities, we examined the functional and taxonomic community composition of forest insects and spiders in long-term monitoring plots that contained invasive plant species. The extent of invasive plant species ground cover significantly altered spider community composition as categorized by hunting guild. Areas with higher invasive herbaceous and grass cover contained a higher abundance of space web-weaving and hunting spiders, respectively. Spider species richness and total invertebrate abundance also increased with greater invasive grass cover. Still, these trends were driven by just two invasive plant species, garlic mustard and Japanese stiltgrass, both of which have previously been shown to provide structural benefits to native invertebrate taxa. While these two species may improve the structural component of understory forest habitat, many invertebrate groups were not significantly correlated with other prevalent invasive plants and one species, mock strawberry, negatively affected the abundance of certain insect taxa. Particularly in forests with reduced native plant structure, invasive plant management must be conducted with consideration for holistic habitat quality, including both plant palatability and structure.

California Invasive Plant Research Needs Assessment

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Robison ◽  
Steve Schoenig ◽  
Douglas W. Johnson ◽  
Elizabeth Brusati ◽  
Joseph M. DiTomaso
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Priority Needs

AbstractThis project summarizes the opinion of 52 experts on the future research needs in the area of invasive plants in California. Experts included academics at private and public universities, Cooperative Extension educators, land managers, members of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), employees of restoration companies, and federal, state, and local agency personnel. Surveys were conducted through in-person interviews, written questionnaires, and workshops. The objective was to identify high-priority needs for future research on issues related to invasive plants in California's wildlands. More specifically, the goals were to (1) create a forum for assessing high-priority research needs, (2) guide future research toward these high-priority needs, and (3) facilitate connections and interactions among academic disciplines and between researchers and practitioners by increasing awareness of the range of ongoing research on invasive plants. Priority needs were chosen for 10 broad research topic areas, with specific subtopics addressed within each of these areas. In addition to noting specific research areas, there was a general need expressed for a synthesis of existing scientific information, particularly about the biology and ecology of invasive plants and the ecological impacts, control and management tools, restoration activities, and related social issues surrounding invasive plants. A mutual exchange of information was also considered important among the academic researcher and the field practitioner, as was the development of more effective training programs for land managers.

scholarly journals Not All Roads Lead to Rome: A Meta-analysis of Invasive Plant Impact Methodology

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 304-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Tekiela ◽  
Jacob N. Barney
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Life Form ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Riparian Areas ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Removal Time ◽  
Study Methodology

The negative effects of invasive plant species on native ecosystems, which can be large and long-lasting, are the primary justifications for their research and management. Tremendous effort is focused on quantifying the ecological impacts of invasive plants, though two different methods are primarily used: observational (compare invaded and uninvaded) and removals (compare invaded and invader removal). However, it is unknown whether these methods, which differ in their assumptions and execution, yield similar results, which could affect our ability to draw broad conclusions within and across studies. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis on 174 studies that described 547 impacts of 72 invasive plants to test the effect of study method, invader cover, and removal period on the direction and magnitude of impact. Overall, by only considering impact magnitude and not direction, both observational and removal methods yielded similar results—invasive plants are changing most aspects of the ecosystem—and the variation among species and study systems was dramatically reduced compared with traditional, directionally focused studies. This is contrary to a similar analysis that did not control for directionality of impacts, which found overall differences in impact depended on methodology. However, even when the effects of study ecosystem, invader life-form, and impact type were accounted for, significant differences occurred between removal and observational studies. Particularly vulnerable systems appear to be those that would be more greatly disturbed by the removal of the target species, such as tree species or invasive plants in riparian areas. Additionally, impact magnitude increased with invader cover and removal time. We confirm that invasive plants impact the systems they invade in a nonuniform manner; however, we suggest some study conditions may be more sensitive to study methodology. Careful consideration should be given as to which methodology is used in the context of the study system.

Designing Effective Wolbachia Release Programs for Mosquito and Arbovirus Control

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perran Ross
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Endosymbiotic Bacteria ◽  
Dengue Transmission ◽  
Awareness Programs ◽  
Population Suppression ◽  
Male Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes carrying endosymbiotic bacteria called Wolbachia are being released in mosquito and arbovirus control programs around the world. Open field releases of Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes have achieved over 95% population suppression, while the replacement of populations with Wolbachia-infected females is self-sustaining and can greatly reduce local dengue transmission. Despite many successful interventions, significant questions and challenges lie ahead. Wolbachia, viruses and their mosquito hosts can evolve, leading to uncertainty around the long-term effectiveness of a given Wolbachia strain, while few ecological impacts of Wolbachia releases have been explored. Wolbachia strains are diverse and the choice of strain to release should be made carefully, taking environmental conditions and the release objective into account. Mosquito quality control, thoughtful community awareness programs and long-term monitoring of populations are essential for all types of Wolbachia intervention. Releases of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes show great promise, but existing control measures remain an important way to reduce the burden of mosquito-borne disease.

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