Alien Plant Invasion

A large part of my daily job is to assess invasive plants, species, density and suggest how to control or eradicate the alien species. I have been assessing invasive plants along with correlating invasive insects for many years. I have also spent time assessing how our native insects interact with invasive plant species when native plants are also present. The more time I spend researching and learning about this alien invasion, the more I worry that we don’t have enough resources to actually combat the growing problem.

I chose an article looking at how midwestern states, including Illinois assess, rate and combat alien plant species. This article looks at how different, neighboring states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, look at the alien plants that have invaded their states. The paper focused on the primary species that occurs in all of the study states, including Amur honeysuckle, Cutleaf teasle, Japanese Barberry and Oriental Bittersweet. There were another 14 species that were somewhat assessed in this paper, but didn’t all occur in all of the states (Buerger et al. 2016.)

Looking at how different state assess whether a plant is even invasive to start with was alarming to see how many of our midwestern states chose to be very relaxed about individual approaches as though they were each an island. The Connectivity of the states and the fact that plants don’t adhere to state lines, needs to be considered and this paper shows that failure of states plans. Some states list the same species as invasive and in need of eradication in one state but next door it is just a weed with no response needed. How can we control invasive species if these species can be allowed to encroach over state lines over and over again (Buerger et al. 2016?)

I solution to this problem would be to have a regional assessment and treatment plan that all the midwestern states would collectively adhere to. Without a collective agreement between states as to what an invasive species is and how to control them, this is a never-ending loop of alien species taking hold in our states. If one state eradicates a species but all of its neighbors just assess this alien species as a non-regulated species, then the invasion will creep back across the borders. The only way to combat all of our invasive species is to all agree that they are actually invasive (Blossey, B. 1999.)

Treating invasive plants with mechanical removal, chemical treatment and use of prescribed fire, is still the uniform method to approach most if not all of these aggressive species. Pushing each state to work together collectively with its neighbors, can help each state to not waste time and money treating these plants just to have them pop back in again. These states need to find a way to get along and agree across borders to slow and stop the spread of alien plants across them (Blossey, B. 1999.)

Blossey, B. (1999). Before, during and after the need for long-term monitoring in invasive plant species management. Biological Invasions, 1(2), 301-311.

Buerger, A., Howe, K., Jacquart, E., Chandler, M., Culley, T., Evans, C., ... & Van Riper, L. (2016). Risk assessments for invasive plants: a Midwestern US comparison. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 9(1), 41-54.