2005 Annual Report 1.What major problem or issue is being resolved and how are you resolving it (summarize project aims and objectives)? How serious is the problem? What does it matter? Non-native, invasive woody plants have created significant ecological and economic challenges, as global species diversity decreases and efforts to mitigate pressures on ecosystem integrity increase. Non-native, invasive woody plants are establishing new global and regional ranges with costly ecological and economic consequences, resulting in major losses to agriculture, rangelands, and natural ecosystems. The floriculture and environmental horticulture industries generate significant income from the production and sales of non-native ornamental plants, including some that have adverse ecological or economic impacts when they escape cultivation. While not the only source of introduction of non-native plants, American horticulture is responsible for the past introduction of a relatively high proportion of invasive plant species in the US. Recognizing the magnitude of potential and actual problems caused by invasive plants, the horticulture industry has made prevention and mitigation high priorities. To these ends, risk assessments are proving to be a useful strategy in evaluating and preventing the introduction of potentially harmful, non-native plant species. This research falls under National Program 301- Plant, Microbial and Insect Germplasm, Conservation, and Development, and relates directly to the Project Plan of the main CRIS Project, “Plant Genetic Resource and Information Management,” especially to Objective 3, “Elucidate Plant-Environment Interactions, Emphasizing Those Key for Invasiveness.” This research involves risk-assessment modeling and validation on a regional scale for the Midwestern US, the region in which the main CRIS Project is located. 2.List the milestones (indicators of progress) from your Project Plan. The specific milestone from the Project Plan for the main CRIS that is pertinent to this project is “Refine Model for Prediction of Non-native Woody Plant Naturalization,” which is scheduled to be ongoing from 2004 through completion at the end of FY 2006. 4a.What was the single most significant accomplishment this past year? Creation of an Access database at the Chicago Botanic Garden to manage geographic-range and plant-attribute data for a list of 156 non-native, woody plant species commonly cultivated in the Chicago region. The structure of this database will serve as the framework for the completion of a data matrix of distributional and biological data to be used for both model validation and new model development. 4b.List other significant accomplishments, if any. None. 4c.List any significant activities that support special target populations. None. 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Additional details of the research can be found in the report of the parent project 3625-21000-044-00D, "Plant Genetic Resource and Information Management." The process of validation of three risk-assessment models developed from data collected on non-native woody plants commonly cultivated in Iowa was initiated April 27, 2005 as a cooperative program between researchers at USDA-ARS Plant Introduction Research Unit and the Chicago Botanic Garden. At that time, Ms. Kristen Kordecki was hired as a Woody Plant Specialist at the Chicago Botanic Garden to conduct many of the project’s activities. She is proving skillful in assembling diverse data sets as noted below. Edaphic variables for counties in the Chicago region were collected by obtaining county Soil Surveys and consulting the USDA - Natural Resource Conservation Service website. Next, climatic information was collected by obtaining Temperature and Precipitation Station (TAPS) data. With these data in hand, 13 of 22 counties in the Chicago region were selected as a homogeneous area for model validation. Information pertaining to the potential cultivation of non-native woody species in the Chicago region was collected from several sources, including current and historical nursery catalogues. Several references, including Swink and Wilhelm’s Plants of the Chicago Region, Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants and on-line databases were cross-referenced to validate non-native status in the Chicago region. Native geographic-range data for each species was assembled from several sources, including the Germplasm Information Resources Network (GRIN), Flora of North America and Flora of China. Published peer-reviewed articles were consulted to verify geographic information for several species. An initial list of 330 non-native woody species potentially cultivated in the region was reviewed by the principal investigators and refined to a more concise list of 156 species for use in model validation. This portion of the research was completed June 17, 2005. Species-specific data collection, including biological characteristics related to naturalization, such as growth habit and propagation system, was initiated June 1, 2005, and approximately 1/3 of this information has been collected and temporarily managed in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. All data are permanently stored in a Microsoft Access database. Networking with urban horticulture experts and the newly created Illinois Department of Natural Resources Invasive Plant Board has recently begun, which will be helpful in transferring information generated by this project. In June 2005, this project received additional funding from National Program Staff, which will be used to establish a second test based on data collected for a nearby region of Indiana and Michigan with soils and climatic conditions that differ significantly from the 13-county target region originally established. We expect this second dataset to help elucidate factors that define geographic boundaries for regional risk-assessment models. 5.Describe the major accomplishments over the life of the project, including their predicted or actual impact. The major accomplishments to date have been the establishment of the database of information about the geographic and biological characteristics of non-native woody plants and the hiring of a Woody Plant Specialist at the Chicago Botanic Garden to conduct many of the project’s activities. We predict that these developments will result in the timely validation of models developed in Iowa prior to the initiation of this SCA and in meeting our established targets, resulting in the creation of reliable, easy-to-use protocols to predict the likelihood that new, non-native woody plants can naturalize and potentially become invasive in the North Central United States. The major accomplishments to date have been the establishment of the database of information about the geographic and biological characteristics of non-native woody plants and the hiring of a Woody Plant Specialist at the Chicago Botanic Garden to conduct many of the project’s activities. We predict that these developments will result in the timely validation of models developed in Iowa prior to the initiation of this SCA and in meeting our established targets, resulting in the creation of reliable, easy-to-use protocols to predict the likelihood that new, non-native woody plants can naturalize and potentially become invasive in the North Central United States. 6.What science and/or technologies have been transferred and to whom? When is the science and/or technology likely to become available to the end-user (industry, farmer, other scientists)? What are the constraints, if known, to the adoption and durability of the technology products? At this point, the only transfer of science that has occurred from this SCA resulted from an invited presentation entitled, “Invasive Risk Assessment: A Regional Perspective,” made by Mark Widrlechner to the Annual Conference of the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta as part of a session on “Invasive Risk Assessment: Methods to Evaluate New Taxa for Invasive Characteristics.” However, we expect to publish the results of our validation by FY 2007 and shortly thereafter plan to release risk-assessment models for both the Chicago region and the Midwestern US. By networking with horticulturists and the newly created Illinois Department of Natural Resources Invasive Plant Board, we hope to facilitate information transfer. 7.List your most important publications in the popular press and presentations to organizations and articles written about your work. (NOTE: List your peer reviewed publications below). Widrlechner, Mark P. 2005. Invasive risk assessment: A regional perspective. Invited talk in session, “Invasive Risk Assessment: Methods to Evaluate New Taxa for Invasive Characteristics,” AABGA Annual Conference, Chicago, 2 July.