Class Project Website Debut!

The final version of the class project website is now available for your viewing pleasure. Thanks go out to the students from both Rick and me for all of the hard work they put into the species profiles. You guys should be proud!

Reading for 5/14

Guest Speaker: Jay Baker, Coastal Zone Management, Northeast Aquatic Species Nuisance Panel

Reading Assignment: Please read IV. Management Objectives and Actions (pp. 32-53) in "The Massachusetts Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan" from the Massachusetts Aquatic Nuisance Species Working Group. Also, please skim the rest of the report to get an idea of what it covers.

Field Trip!

Rick scouted out the loading dock with you guys so we should be all set for meeting up at 4:30 sharp!!! on Wednesday.

We will be visiting wetland habitat in the Neponset River Watershed, where we will see no fewer than a dozen different invasive plant species, including Japanese knotweed, porcelainberry, Phragmites, perennial pepperweed, autumn olive, tree of heaven and purple loosestrife. Most of the species we spot will be at their humble spring beginnings (translation: not in flower). You are welcome to bring a camera and/or a field guide, if you have one. Rick and I will bring guides as well.

While high tide will be occurring right around our trip, we won't be venturing into the estuary (few invasive plants there!) so no need to wear your waders. That said, there will be dirt, sand, possibly a little mud, and some thorny things, so sensible shoes and clothes for being out in the field are recommended...and you will all be asked to "check your boat" and remove all plant propagules before leaving the site :-).

For an introduction to local invasive plant species, check out these websites:

• Mass Invaders
  
• IPANE
  
• Invasive Plants of Nantucket (a project I worked on - not all of the species are ones we'll see here, but there is a good crossover, and it has a search by leaf and flower characters that is worth exploring)

Readings for 5/7

In Monday's class we will be covering invasive species outreach.

Our readings will come from this document:

Communicating Effectively About ANS Issues

Please read ALL of the following:

• The introductory page
  
• One of the four pilot projects (your choice of Arizona, Missouri, New Hampshire or South Carolina). These are big files so just skim to get an idea of what the states were dealing with and note some specific projects.
  
• The entire Recommendations section

The entire document is too large to print out. However, if you would like to download your own copy (10Mb file), you can do so here. Once you unzip that file, start with the file named MAINMENU.pdf.

Readings for 5/2

This Wednesday our guest speaker will be Beth Suedmeyer from the Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program. Beth will be speaking about the state's purple loosestrife biocontrol project, which you can read more about here.

Readings for this class are:

• "AN UPDATE ON THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE IN MASSACHUSETTS." 2007. by Beth Suedmeyer. AMWS newsletter, April. (sent to students via email)
• "Indirect effects of host-specific biological control agents." by Pearson, D. E. and R. M. Callaway. 2003. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18(9): 456-461. (pdf)

Guests are welcome for this lecture and discussion.

Links from Monday's class

Here are web links relevant to Monday's class:

• GISP Toolkit (for managing invasive species)
  
• Weed Wipeout Flash Game
  

Readings for 4/30

For Monday's class we will be covering chemical controls:

Chemical Controls

Pick one from Group A and one from Group B:

Group A

• TNC's Weed Control Methods Handbook: Tools and Techniques for Use in Natural Areas
  
  • Chapter 6 (Herbicide Properties) (.pdf) + One section (A through K) from Chapter 7 (The Herbicides)
  
  
• NIMPIS: Control options - Rapid Response Toolbox
• Chemical Control (read whole page, click "More Information" for at least three techniques)

Group B

• Highlights of the Zebra Mussel Chemical Control Guide (Read this introduction, then pick at least 2 specific chemical controls from the list (i.e. CLAM-TROL or Bromine)

• Asian Longhorned Beetle Insecticides + one "Wildcard" option - any article or website discussing a chemical control not listed above.

Readings for 4/25

Starting with Wednesday's class, we will be covering invasive species control methods. Up first: Physical Controls.

This week you have a smorgasboard of reading choices. Make your choices and email them to me before class on Tuesday.

Choose one from each group:

Group 1

• TNC's Weed Control Methods Handbook: Tools and Techniques for Use in Natural Areas
  
  • Chapter 1 (Manual and Mechanical Techniques) (.pdf)
  
  
• Plant Management in Florida Waters (Pick either Physical or Mechanical)
• Physical Control
• Mechanical Control

Group 2

• NIMPIS: Control options - Rapid Response Toolbox
  
• Physical Control (read whole page, click "More Information" for at least three techniques)


• CONTROL OF ZEBRA MUSSELS IN RESIDENTIAL WATER SYSTEMS

Readings from 4/23

Modeling of Biological Invasions

Here are the readings from Monday's class, emailed out last week:

• "Selection of Models of Invasive Species Dynamics." 2004. Peters, Debra P.C. Weed Technology: Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 1236–1239.
  
• Visit the NBII's Models for Invasive Species webpage and explore at least two of the links at the bottom of the page.
  
• "Modeling the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer." 2006. BenDor et al. Ecological Modeling. 197: 221-236. (full text available via Science Direct)
  

Since our "guest speaker" unfortunately couldn't make it due to internet difficulties, you might want to watch Curt Daehler's talk, Modeling Biological Invasions, on your own.

Readings for 4/18

This week we will be discussing ecological impacts of invasive species. Pay attention to allusions to ecological impacts and try to come up with concrete examples we have covered in class.

Readings were sent out by email earlier this week, here are the details:

• Flecker & Townsend. 1994. "Community-Wide Consequences of Trout Introduction in New Zealand Streams." Ecological Applications. 4(4): 798-807. (available via JSTOR if you are missing the email)
  
• Gurevitch & Padilla. 2004. "Are invasive species a major cause of
  extinctions?" (pdf) Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 19(9): 470-474.
  

Readings for 4/11

In Wednesday's class we will be discussing economic impacts of invasive species.

Readings:

• Pimentel, D., R. Zuniga, et al. (2005). “Update on the environmental and economic costs associated with alien-invasive species in the United States.” Ecological Economics 52: 273-288. (pdf)
  
• Robert Costanza, Ralph d’Arge, Rudolf de Groot, Stephen Farberk, Monica Grasso, Bruce Hannon, Karin Limburg, Shahid Naeem, Robert V. O’Neill, Jose Paruelo, Robert G. Raskin, Paul Suttonkk and Marjan van den Belt. (1997). "The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital." Nature 387: 253-260.
  

P.S. - Much of what you hear in the lecture comes from the following book chapter:

Naylor, Rosamond. (2000). The Economics of Alien Species Invasions. Invasive Species in a Changing World. H. A. Mooney and R. J. Hobbs. Washington D.C., Island Press: 351-368.

And if you are so inclined to learn more, our library does have a copy of the book.

Class 4/9

For Monday's class, we are lucky to have as out guest speaker Melinda Gammon, who will be discussing her research on Japanese knotweed. Papers were emailed to you last week.

Readings and Homework for 4/2 and 4/4

For Monday's class (4/2), we will be attending a thesis defense at 2:30pm, and then meeting at our regular time to discuss the talk and the paper that was handed out in class last week.

For Wednesday's class (4/4), you will be completing an invasive species pathway risk assessment. Pathways were selected last week - please contact me immediately if you do not have a pathway! Bring all related documents to class as we will be filling out the risk assessment there. This will be a graded assignment and is required to be done in class. We will be working with the National Invasive Species Council Pathways Work Team: Focus Group Conference Report And Pathways Ranking Guide that was handed out in class last week.

Homework for 3/28

(readings forthcoming?)

Rick has asked that:

"each of you look into any evidence that your species has ever or could potentially hybridize with related taxa...Look around for wide crosses (between subspecies or varieties even)...In introduced regions we saw that often introductions are from different regions of the native habitat. This, as you know, introduces greater variability and generates different combinations than are present in native regions."

Readings for 3/26

Rick will be lecturing this week, here is a recap of the readings for Monday (emailed by Rick to everyone last week):

• "Hybridization as a stimulus for the evolution of invasiveness in plants?" by Ellstrand and Schierenbeck (2000) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97(13): 7043-7050 (link)
  
• "Hybridization, polyploidy and speciation in Spartina (Poaceae)." by Ainouche et al. (2003) New Phytologist. 161: 165-172. (link)
  

Readings for 3/14

For this class we will be taking a look at present invasive species vectors, with a focus on the type of organism you chose for your semester projects.

Each of you has been assigned two readings, based on the type of organism you are studying. That means some of the articles will only be read by one person, others will be read by many. You should be prepared to discuss the key points of your paper, and think about these questions: What are the specific pathways discussed? Are they obvious or obscure? Are they vectors for a few species or many?

• At least one of the articles each of you is reading comes from this book:
  Invasive Species - Vectors and Management Strategies, edited by James T. Carlton and Gregory M. Ruiz. Island Press, 2003. Copies were handed out in class.
  
• Those of you who adopted a plant species for your project should also read: "Horticulture as a pathway of invasive plant introductions in the United States." (2001) by Reichard, S.E. and P. White. Bioscience 51: pp. 103-113.
  
• Those of you studying marine species should read this report: "Pathways and Management of Marine Nonindigenous Species in the Shared Waters of British Columbia and Washington" (1997)

Readings and Homework for 3/12

Reading for Monday, 3/12:

• "Changes in the Sea." Chapter 5 in Elton, C. S. (1958). The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. London, Chapman and Hall, Ltd.
  
• Fosberg, F. R. (1958). “Man as a dispersal agent.” The Southwestern Naturalist 3: 1-6.

Also, be prepared to discuss the vectors of introduction and spread for your adopted species.

More about Butomus umbellatus

Rick spoke briefly about flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) in Monday's lecture - it's the species that was being compared with purple loosestrife. Both are typically emergent wetland plants - growing surrounded by water but rooted in the substrate. Flowering rush is a monocot in its own family, the Butomaceae. Like purple loosestrife, it is on the Massachusetts list of banned invasive plants.

Perhaps not coincidentally, it has also been the subject of an evolutionary study similar to the reed canary grass paper we will be discussing in class Wednesday. This is absolutely not required reading, but for those of you who are interested, here is the citation:

Brown and Eckert. 2005. "Evolutionary increase in sexual and clonal reproductive capacity during biological invasion in an aquatic plant Butomus umbellatus (Butomaceae)." American Journal of Botany. 92: 495-502.

Class for 3/7

On Wednesday we begin a new section in the syllabus, "Vectors of Invasion - The Early Years"

Readings:

• "The Crown's Relationship with Acclimatization Societies" Chapter 8 in Effective Exclusion?, a report prepared by the Waitangi Tribunal. Read pp. 495-512 (8.1 through 8.3.1) and 529-533 (8.8) (This is a large document, you do not need to print the entire thing)
  
• "Weeds" - Chapter 7 in Crosby, A. W. (1986). Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. New York, Cambridge University Press.
  

Class for 3/5

Rick will be covering the second part of his section on invasive species and population genetics, papers were already assigned back when the class was originally scheduled. A note from him...

We are looking at population genetic factors that might be important in altering the evolutionary path (or trajectory) on an introduced species. We covered bottlenecks and inbreeding, factors that impact small populations. I gave some examples of these and discussed (briefly) how these are measured (with diversity statistics). We were then beginning to discuss some case studies. I will present some info on two Water Hyacinth and Cheatgrass (which Jenn mentioned last class as well) and then we will discuss the ants and other examples.

Later in the semester, I will be continuing this theme of "changing evolutionary trajectories" in a discussion of hybridization and rapid changes/responses to selection pressures.

In addition, there is a new article out about reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) that Rick sent out a copy of this weekend:

Lavergne, Sébastien and Molofsky, Jane. 2007. "Increased genetic variation and evolutionary potential drive the success of an invasive grass." PNAS. 104(10): 3883-3888.

Please be sure to at least look at the abstract and figures of that paper if you do not have time to read the whole article.