Spread, Impact, and Control of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) in North American Wetlands
Pump house and water control structure for green-tree impoundment at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in central New York. Waterfowl broods produced in adjacent flooded forest found excellent foraging conditions among floating and emergent aquatic plants in the foreground, 18 June 1968. | Ten years later, purple loosestrife had displaced native food and cover plants in the waterway surrounding the green-tree impoundment at the Montezuma Refuge. Biologist holding stadia rod in middle foreground is obscured by mature plants. Note the abundance of Lythrum salicaria seedlings along the water line, 16 August 1978. |
United States Department of the Interior
Fish and Wildlife Service
Washington, DC
Introduction
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.) is an erect, herbaceous perennial of Eurasian origin that became established in the estuaries of northeastern North America by the early 1800's. By the late 1800's it had spread throughout the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, reaching as far north and west as Manitoba. L. salicaria caused few problems until the 1930's when it became aggressive in the floodplain pastures of the St. Lawrence River. Since then, it has steadily expanded its local distribution and now poses a serious threat to native emergent vegetation in shallowwater marshes throughout the northeastern and northcentral regions. Recent records indicate that purple loosestrife is also tolerant of soils and climates beyond these regions and threatens to become a serious problem in wetlands and irrigation systems in the Great Plains and the Far West.
It is no small irony that after 50 years of struggle to find some means of breaking up monotypic stands of cattails (Typha spp.) to increase wildlife diversity and abundance, wetland managers must now cope with a foreign species that replaces cattail, but unfortunately creates another monospecific community of greatly diminished wildlife value.
Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Abstract
- Field Identification, Classification, and Distribution
- Biology and Life History
- Growth Requirements
- Ecology of Spread and Dominance
- Arrival and Establishment in North America
- Chronology and Mode of Spread
- Purposeful Introduction
- Potential Spread
- Impact of Lythrum salicaria on Wetland Habitats and Wildlife
- Impact on Agriculture
- History of Control Efforts
- Recent Control Efforts
- The Case for Biological Control
- Containment Strategy and Tactics
- Integrated Pest Management
- Research and Information Needs
- Acknowledgments
- References
Figures
- Figure 1 -- Structure, growth forms, and field identification characters of Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife).
- Figure 2 -- Distribution of purple loosestrife, broad-leaved cattail, and reed canarygrass in the Northern Hemisphere.
- Figure 3 -- Adventitious shoots of purple loosestrife after a flash flood.
- Figure 4 -- Adventitious shoots of purple loosestrife on a mat of floating vegetation.
- Figure 5 -- Establishment and early spread of purple loosestrife by 1880.
- Figure 6 -- Spread of purple loosestrife as of 1900.
- Figure 7 -- Distribution of purple loosestrife as of 1940.
- Figure 8 -- Distribution of purple loosestrife as of 1985.
- Figure 9 -- Hectares of land under irrigation on FRP from 1906 to 1980.
- Figure 10 -- Purple loosestrife in Idaho.
- Figure 11 -- Purple loosestrife in Wyoming.
- Figure 12 -- Latilong blocks occupied by purple loosestrife in NY, MI, WI, and MN from 1840 to 1980.
- Figure 13 -- Purple loosestrife in New York.
- Figure 14 -- Estimated biomass dike cover made up by purple loosestrife on the Montezuma NWR.
- Figure 15 -- Purple loosestrife seedling.
- Figure 16 -- Purple loosestrife seedlings due to muskrat foraging.
- Figure 17 -- Purple loosestrife in Nebraska.
- Figure 18 -- Wild hay harvested in 1974 in the northern United States.
- Figure 19 -- Purple loosestrife status in North American wetlands as of 1980.
Tables
- Table 1 -- Percent frequency of occurrence of wetland species associated with purple loosestrife.
- Table 2 -- Schedule and cost of 10-year biological control program for purple loosestrife.
- Table 3 -- Area of four wetland types in the northern Atlantic and Mississippi flyways.
- Table 4 -- Muskrat fur harvest and honey sales from northern Atlantic and Mississippi flyways.
- Table 5 -- Benefit-cost analysis of resources and values at risk to purple loosestrife infestation.
- Table 6 -- Number of colonies of bees and value of honey in the top 10 honey-producing states.
- Table 7 -- Purple loosestrife infestation classes.
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This resource is based on the following source:
Thompson, Daniel Q., Ronald L. Stuckey, Edith B. Thompson. 1987. Spread, Impact, and Control of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) in North American Wetlands. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 55 pages.
This resource should be cited as:
Thompson, Daniel Q., Ronald L. Stuckey, Edith B. Thompson. 1987. Spread, Impact, and Control of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) in North American Wetlands. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 55 pages. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/loosstrf/index.htm (Version 04JUN1999).
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