Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
economic and ecological thresholds could be lower than anticipated if the long-
term benefit of creating and maintaining a self-perpetuating natural production
system, which is relatively free of weeds, is high.
17.5
Framework to Implement Science-Based
Management of Invasive Plants
Preventing, reducing, or eliminating undesirable impacts of invasive plants is a
challenge facing land managers around the world. Because of the potential serious-
ness of the invasive plant problem, there is also a need to develop models and other
elements of a research program that can facilitate relationships between scientists
and land managers. Radosevich et al. (2005) suggest a framework in which empiri-
cal experiments, risk assessments, and projections of invasive plant species intro-
duction and spread across susceptible landscapes can help land managers conduct
management activities (Fig. 17.7). The approach incorporates habitat-level (Werner
and Soule 1976; Zouhar 2003) and species-level (Sheley and Petroff 1999;
DiTomaso 2000) experiments on age structure, population dynamics, competitive
ability, dispersal, disturbance, and herbivory into a landscape-level model (Neubert
and Caswell 2000). When these activities are combined with a GIS-based risk
assessment, e.g., Fig. 17.6, it is possible to project expansion of the species over
time. This approach is helpful to land managers because the consequences of man-
agement or no action can be determined and policies derived from it can be justi-
fied. Results of the approach (Fig. 17.7) also provide land managers guidance in
integrating management tools (e.g., herbicides, fire, and native plant seeding) with
information on plant invasiveness and community invasibility.
Prevention and Detection
Photo-detection methodlogy
Risk assessment
Adaptive
Management
and
Interaction with
Land
Managers
Habitat Research
Landscape Model
Species Experiments
Risk assessment
Population ecology
Plant-animal interactions
Plant-plant interactions
Factors influencing abundance
and distribution
Ecosystem function
Containment and Restoration
Tool screening trials
Prescribed fire
Seeding native plant species
Fig. 17.7
Framework for implementing science-based management of invasive plants (from
Radosevich et al. 2005)
