/pdf/michigan-geology-a-bibliography-march-2016-oq8ytteisi.pdf

Michigan Geology: A Bibliography, March 2016

The United States created national parks to conserve indigenous species, ecological processes, and cultural resources unimpaired for future generations. Curtailing impacts of exotic species is important to meeting this mission. This synthesis identified 56 studies reported in 60 publications that evaluated effects of exotic plant treatments on National Park Service lands. Studies encompassed 35 parks in 20 states and one U.S. territory and included 157 exotic plant species. Eighty-seven percent of studies reported that at least one treatment reduced focal exotic species. Of 30 studies evaluating response of native vegetation, 53% reported that natives increased, 40% reported neutral responses, and 7% reported that natives decreased. For at least some of the neutral cases, neutrality was consistent with management objectives. In other cases, insufficient time may have elapsed to thoroughly characterize responses, or restoration might be needed. Nonfocal exotic species increased in 44% of the 16 studies evaluating them, but the other 56% of studies reported no increase. Results suggest that: (1) a range of exotic species spanning annual forbs to trees have been effectively treated; (2) developing effective treatments often required extensive experimentation and balancing nontarget impacts; (3) presence of multiple exotic species complicated treatment efforts, highlighting importance of preventing invasions; and (4) placing treatment objectives and outcomes in context, such as pretreatment condition of native vegetation, is important to evaluating effectiveness. Attaining the goal in national parks of conserving native species and ecological processes minimally influenced by exotic species will likely require comprehensive management strategies inclusive of treatment interactions with focal exotic species, other potential invaders, and native species.

https://bioone.org/journals/invasive-plant-science-and-management/volume-7/issue-1/IPSM-D-13-00058.1/Effectiveness-of-Exotic-Plant-Treatments-on-National-Park-Service-Lands/10.1614/IPSM-D-13-00058.1.pdf

Effectiveness of Exotic Plant Treatments on National Park Service Lands in the United States

Presence and management of the invasive plant Gypsophila paniculata (baby’s breath) on sand dunes alters arthropod abundance and community structure

Population viability analysis and the effects of light availability and litter on populations of Cirsium pitcheri, a rare, monocarpic perennial of Great Lakes shorelines

The removal of invasive species is common in restoration projects, yet the long-term effects of pest management programs are seldom assessed. We present results of a long-term program to remove the invasive species Lupinus arboreus (lupin) from sand dunes in New Zealand. We evaluate the response of plant communities to lupin removal, by comparing total plant cover, the cover of non-native and native plant species, and species richness between sand dune sites where lupin removal has occurred, not occurred, and where lupin has never been present. Neither lupin presence nor removal had a significant impact on the foredune environment. Following removal, total and other non-native plant cover remained higher, and the cover of several native sand dune species remained lower compared with uninvaded sites in the deflation and backdune environments. These changes can be attributed to persistent effects associated with the invasion of lupin, but have also developed in response to lupin removal. The results of this study have implications for restoration projects in sand dunes. Pest management alone is unlikely to be sufficient to restore plant communities. Given the difficulties in restoring plant communities once an invasive species has established, managers should prioritize actions to prevent the spread of invasive species into uninvaded areas of sand dunes. Finally, the response to lupin invasion and removal differed between dune habitats. This highlights the importance of tailoring a pest management program to restoration goals by, for example, prioritizing areas in which the impacts of the invading species are greatest.

Plant community response following the removal of the invasive Lupinus arboreus in a coastal dune system

The removal of invasive species is often one of the first steps in restoring degraded habitats. However, studies evaluating effectiveness of invasive species removal are often limited in spatial and temporal scale, and lack evaluation of both aboveground and belowground effects on diversity and key processes. In this study, we present results of a large 3-year removal effort of the invasive species, Gypsophila paniculata, on sand dunes in northwest Michigan (USA). We measured G. paniculata abundance, plant species richness, plant community diversity, non-native plant cover, abundance of Cirsium pitcheri (a federally threatened species endemic to this habitat), sand movement, arbuscular mycorrhizal spore abundance, and soil nutrients in fifteen 1000 m 2 plots yearly from 2007 to 2010 in order to evaluate the effectiveness of manual removal of this species on dune restoration. Gypsophila paniculata cover was greatly reduced by management, but was not entirely eliminated from the area. Removal of G. paniculata shifted plant community composition to more closely resemble target reference plant communities but had no effect on total plant diversity, C. pitcheri abundance, or other non-native plant cover. Soil properties were generally unaffected by G. paniculata invasion or removal. The outlook is good for this restoration, as other non-native species do not appear to be staging a “secondary” invasion of this habitat. However, the successional nature of sand dunes means that they are already highly invasible, stressing the need for regular monitoring to ensure that restoration progresses.

https://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationByGeography/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/michigan/projects/Documents/Emery%20et%20al.%202013%20published%20final.pdf

Shaun Howard

Papers

Aboveground and belowground impacts following removal of the invasive species baby's breath (Gypsophila paniculata) on lake Michigan sand dunes.