What’s The Problem With Invasive Plants?
The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages invasive plants because these plants have the potential to degrade habitats and in turn, affect the wildlife that the Service is mandated to protect for the continuing benefit of the public.
Not all nonnative plants are invasive or are a problem. In fact, some nonnative plants may be useful, such as grasses as forage for domestic animal grazing or as food crops. Depending on the land management goals of a refuge, managers may work towards creating desired plant communities which may include both native and nonnative plants.
Many of the invasive plants that are found on refuges are nonnative species that were either purposely or inadvertently brought into the United States by people. The reasons that some of these nonnative plants become such proficient invaders are complex even to scientists. In general, nonnative plants do well in the habitats that are similar to the habitats of their origin, and have characteristics that enable them to out-compete the native plants. For example, a nonnative plant may flower more frequently and produce more seeds. This characteristic may enable the nonnative plant to gain a stronger foothold over the native plants.
Read about the policy that authorizes the management of invasive plants on refuges:Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health Policy
Impacts of Invasive Plants
Decrease Biodiversity
Kudzu | ||
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Invasive plants can dominate native plant communities by forming monocultures that use the resources (e.g. nutrients, light, water) native plants need to grow. Kudzu (Pueraria montana) is a vine that grows throughout most of the southeastern United States and in some northern states.
Kudzu grows rapidly and can smother native plants, kill trees by girdling, and uproot trees by the weight of its vines (1). When kudzu grows very few other plants are able to survive, substantially decreasing native biodiversity.
CHANGE ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES SUCH AS FIRE, NUTRIENT FLOW AND FLOODING
Cheatgrass | ||
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European cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) has spread throughout the sagebrush rangelands of the Great Basin in Idaho and Utah, predisposing the invaded habitats to fire. Some research shows that before cheatgrass invasion fires occurred once every 60 to 110 years, but now fires are more frequent, burning every 3 to 5 years (2).
HYBRIDIZE WITH NATIVE PLANTS AND CAUSE A LOSS OF GENETIC MATERIAL
Smooth Cordgrass | ||
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Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) was transported from the East Coast to West Coast, where it hybridizes with native California cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) (3).
Spreading populations of hybrid plants could result in loss of genetic material of native California cordgrass and lead to local extinction (4). Additionally, the invading hybrid and nonnative species create cordgrass “meadows” in naturally open mudflats. This modification of estuary ecosystems has far-reaching impacts on native species and on people (5).
THREATEN AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK
Canada Thistle | ||
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At Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota, Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) has expanded vastly in the last 10 years, crowding out native grass and forbs on the refuge. Neighboring cattle that normally eat the grasses won’t eat Canada thistle (6).
HINDER EFFORTS TO RESTORE THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES
Purple Loosestrife | ||
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About 42% of federally threatened and endangered species are at risk primarily because of invasive species (7).
On the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) crowds out native plants. Purple loosestrife may be the most ubiquitous invasive species in the United States; it has invaded about 400,000 acres of federal land, including wetlands, marshes, pastures and riparian meadows (8).
Purple loosestrife confines native wetland plants, including swamp rose mallow and some federally endangered orchids, to small areas. It also reduces habitat for waterfowl, which impacts declining species such as the bog turtle, black tern and canvasback duck (8).
REDUCE RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES
Eurasian Watermilfoil | ||
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Recreational activities such as swimming, boating and fishing can be impacted by invasive aquatic plants such as Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum). As Eurasian watermilfoil grows up from the bottom of lakes and rivers, it creates expansive mats on the water’s surface with dense tangles of stems below. As a result, recreationists are unable to use these areas and the health of the aquatic ecosystem declines (9).
Invasive plant infestations can also reduce the economic benefits of recreation-based activities to communities (10).
EXPENSIVE TO CONTROL
Melaleuca | ||
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Environmental damage caused by invasive species such as melaleuca, combined with the cost of controlling them, adds up to almost $120 billion per year (2).
References
- Swearingen J, Reshetiloff K, Slattery B, Zwicker S. 2002. Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. <http://www.invasive.org/eastern/midatlantic>. Accessed 2006 Aug 21.
- Pimentel D, Lach L, Zuniga R, Morrison D. 2002. Environmental and economic costs associated with non-indigenous species in the United States. Bioscience 50:53-65.
- Western Aquatic Plant Management Society. <http://www.wapms.org/plants/spartina.html>. Accessed 2006 Aug 21.
- Ayres DR, Garcia-Rossi D, Davis HG, Strong DR. 1999 July. Extent and degree of hybridization between exotic (Spartina alterniflora) and native (S. foliosa) cordgrass (Poaceae) in California, USA determined by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) [abstract]. In Molecular Ecology 8:1179-1186. <http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/mecol>. Accessed 2006 Aug 22.
- San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project. <http://www.spartina.org/invasion.htm>. Accessed 2006 Aug 22.
- National Wildlife Refuge Association. 2002. Silent Invasion: A Call to Action from the National Wildlife Refuge Association. <http://www.refugenet.org/new-pdf-files/Silent%20Invasion%20pdf.pdf>. Accessed 2006 Aug 21.
- Pimentel D, Lach L, Zuniga R, Morrison D. 2005. Update on the environmental and economic costs associated alien-invasive species in the United States. Ecological Economics 52:273-288.
- National Wildlife Refuge Association, Refugenet. <http://www.refugenet.org/New-issues/invasives.html#TOC02>. Accessed 2006 Aug 16.
- Minnesota Sea Grant. <http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/exotics/eurasian.html>. Accessed 2006 Sept 1.
- University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. <http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/SP05/SP0506.pdf>. Accessed 2006 Sept 1.