Citizen Science: What’s Invasive! and IPANE

Native plants and animals have evolved to coexist in a balance where the animals use the plants as a food source and the plants use the animals to reproduce. Non-native invasive species disrupt

this balance that has taken eons to reach.

Invasive plants crowd out native ones, often by starting their growing season before native plants or growing faster. Most invasive plants are eaten by a very small number of native insects. With fewer insects there is less food for breeding birds to feed their nestlings. The fruit of invasive plants will be eaten by birds and other animals, but it is less nutritious.

Invasive insects can kill native plants. Connecticut has been hit by the gypsy moth, the Japanese beetle, and the hemlock woolly adelgid, and we have seen the damage that has been done. New on the scene is the emerald ash borer which can kill an ash tree in two to three years.

To combat invasive plants, experts need to know where to find them. That’s the main idea behind the What’s Invasive app, a joint effort by UCLA’s Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), the National Park Service and the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia.

The app displays local lists of invasive plants or animals (with images) that have been identified by the National Park Service and other management authorities. Users can help experts pinpoint invasive species by locating them and providing experts with GPS coordinates, accompanied by a photo and notes about the observation. The geotagged observations and photos are used to alert experts about the spread of habitat-destroying species. Users can also go online to whatsinvasive.com and set up their own site for invasive species data collection.

Visit whatsinvasive.com for more information or to set up your own site for invasive species data collection.

Another app for helping scientists map invasive species is from the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England. IPANE’s mission is to create a comprehensive web-accessible database of invasive and potentially invasive plants in New England that will be continually The database will facilitate education and research that will lead to a greater understanding of invasive plant ecology and support informed conservation management. An important focus of the project is the early detection of, and rapid response to, new invasions.

updated by a network of professionals and trained volunteers.

This app allows IPANE to become mobile and allow IPANE users to report sightings of invasive plants directly in the field.

For more information about IPANE and how to volunteer, visit eddmaps.org/ipane/.

Both apps are available for iOS and Android smart devices. Links to the App Store and Google play for the apps can be found at apps.bugwood.org/apps.html.

(From the May, 2014 newsletter.)

Invasive Plants Destructive to the Environment; Natives Are More Suitable Alternatives

With spring and a new gardening season coming in a few weeks, it is an ideal time to consider the invasive plants in our landscape and native plants that are suitable alternatives.

The Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group defines an “invasive plant as a species non-native to the ecosystem under consideration, and whose introduction, whether accidental or intentional, causes or is likely to cause harm to the environment, economy or human health.”

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) was introduced into North America from eastern Asia. With fragrant flowers, the ability to grow in adverse conditions, and fruit that is eaten by dozens of bird species, autumn olive has been promoted as an ornamental and wildlife plant. 

If so many birds love its fruit, what is the problem with autumn olive? With the potential for a mature plant to produce as many as 66,000 seeds annually, it can quickly become the dominant plant in an area, outcompeting native plants. It also has allelopathic properties. It releases growth-compounds from its roots and other plants that try to establish themselves absorb the chemicals and die. Few insects feed on autumn olive  giving it little value for spring migrating and nesting birds.

Autumn olive. Photo: nps.gov

Three other plants introduced into North America from Asia, Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), winged euonymus (burning bush) (Euonymus alatus), and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), can also become dominant plants in the landscape. They are especially harmful in the forest understory where they shade out native plants and result in a monoculture. And again, they do not support the insects that birds need for their growing chicks. 

Japanese honeysuckle. Photo: hort.uconn.edu/plants

More suitable native plant alternatives for these non-native plants include several of the plants that are included in Menunkatuck’s Plant Sale for the Birds. Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), and highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) all have berries that provide food for wildlife with the additional benefit of flowering in May, June, or July, attracting insects that nesting birds can feed their chicks. An alternative to Japanese honeysuckle is trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), a native vine that is attractive to ruby-throated hummingbirds.

Trumpet honeysuckle. 

Photo (color adjusted): hort.uconn.edu/plants 

Karen Bussolini will discuss more ideas for Landscaping with Native Plants: Healing Our Home Turf at Menunkatuck’s March 13 program. 

(From the March 2013 Newsletter)

Citizen Science: IPANE

Invasive species exhibit these biological traits

• grow rapidly
• produce seeds early in the growing season
• produce massive amounts of seeds or propagate vegetatively
• produce chemicals that prohibit the growth of other plant species
• adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions

These characteristics result in the invasive plants overwhelming native ones to the detriment of native insects which are unable to use the non-natives as a food source. As is described in the article on page 1, native insects are vital for sustaining bird populations.

You can help identify locations with invasive plants as a volunteer for IPANE.

The Invasive Plant Atlas of New England is a multi-faceted project designed to provide comprehensive and up-to-date information about invasive plants in New England. The goals of the project are to facilitate education and research leading to a greater understanding of the dynamics of plant invasions, and to support the early detection of new invasions, which will enable rapid management responses.

The project includes a web-accessible atlas with images and descriptive information for the invasive and potentially invasive plants in New England. Collection databases constructed from herbarium specimens and current field records document the dates and locations of invasive plant occurrences, making it possible to generate maps that depict the distribution and spread of invasive plants across New England.

The intent is to provide public access to an online interactive resource that can act as an effective tool for students, researchers, land managers, conservationists, scientists, government agencies, the green industry, and the interested public.

The project is actively creating a network of trained volunteers who inventory habitats throughout New England for the presence and absence of invasive plant species. The data collected by our professionals and volunteers is used to continually update the collection databases, and plays a central role in IPANE’s goals of academic research and early detection.

Visit nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/ipane/ for complete details.

(From the March 2012 Newsletter)

Japanese Barberry and Lyme Disease

An article in the New London Day describes a link between the invasive Japanese barberry and Lyme disease.

Jeffrey Ward, chief scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Department of Forestry and Agriculture, and experiment station scientist Scott Williams have been doing research on the relationship between Japanese barberry, ticks that carry Lyme disease and deer overpopulation.

A highly invasive plant that forms dense canopies in forests - particularly those with high deer populations that eat most every other plant - Japanese barberry also creates moist, cool shelters that harbor ticks that carry the Lyme disease bacteria, Ward's and Williams' research has shown. Hot, dry conditions suppress tick populations.

At 28 study areas, including a parcel along Lord's Cove in Old Lyme, the two have been studying various aspects of the triangular relationship between ticks, deer and barberry, and spreading their message to land conservation organizations about the best methods for ridding forests of barberry. Deer serve as hosts for adult ticks, while the barberry functions as a nursery for ticks in their juvenile stages.

Williams said tick abundance in barberry-infested areas is 67 percent higher than those where native plants are predominant. Also, the percentage of ticks that carry the Lyme bacteria is higher - 126 infected ticks per acre versus 10 per acre in barberry-free areas, Williams said, though the reason for that is as yet unclear. After barberry removal, Ward said, tick populations drop as much as 80 percent.

Go here for the full story.