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Red Mangrove Eradication and Pickleweed Control in a Hawaiian Wetland, Waterbird Responses, and Lessons Learned

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Red Mangrove Eradication and Pickleweed Control in a Hawaiian Wetland, Waterbird Responses, and Lessons Learned Red mangrove eradication and pickleweed control in a Hawaiian wetland, waterbird responses, and lessons learned M. J. Rauzon1 and D. C. Drigot2 1Marine Endeavours, 4701 Edgewood Ave. Oakland, CA 94602, USA. E-mail: [email protected] 2c/o CG, U.S Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Environmental Department (Code LE), Box 63062, Kaneohe Bay, HI 96863-3062, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Alien red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) and pickleweed (Batis maritima) are major invasive plants in Hawaiian wetlands, including Nu’upia Ponds, a 195 hectare wildlife management area and historic Hawaiian fishpond complex on U.S Marine Corps Base Hawaii. These fishponds are also home to approximately 10% of Hawai’i’s en- demic and endangered black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni) population and at least 16 species of native fish. Invasive plants were changing the ecology and character of the fishponds from Hawaiian to Floridian. After 20 years of effort with thousands of volunteer hours, and over USD 2.5 million of contracted labour, over 20 acres of mangrove were removed. Mangroves were cleared by hand, shovels, and chain saws in archaeologically-sensitive areas and grappled with heavy tracked equipment in less-sensitive areas. Work was performed in the non-nesting season of the resident waterbirds. Prior to cutting, mature mangrove stands had been colonised by black-crowned night-herons and cattle egrets, causing work schedule alterations and the need for hazing permits. Pickleweed, an invasive ground cover, is annually plowed using Amphibious Assault Vehicles during “mud ops” training manoeuvres. The results show that stilts readily colonise mudflats cleared of alien vegetation, especially near established breeding areas. Lessons learned regarding waterbird conservation are discussed. Keywords Hawaiian stilts; cattle egrets; black-crowned night-herons; egg measurements; red mangroves; pickleweed; tilapia; wetlands. INTRODUCTION Interaction of alien species in Hawaiian coastal wetlands has received little attention in the past (Cuddihy and Stone Introduction of alien species has substantially changed the 1990). Few areas have been as well studied as Nu’upia lowland landscape of Hawai’i. Alien plants displace na- Ponds. This paper reports on the 52-year relationship be- tive Hawaiian coastal plants, colonise unexploited habi- tween two alien plants and four species of waterbirds on tats, trap sediments, and adversely affect water quality and Mokapu Peninsula, O’ahu, before, during and after exten- hydrology. Alien animals consume primary producers, sive alien plant control and eradication. eliminate vegetative cover, foster erosion, and prey upon endangered species. Hawai’i’s coastal wetland areas have STUDY AREA AND SUBJECTS been extensively altered for aquaculture, agriculture, graz- ing and urban development (Cuddihy and Stone 1990). Nu’upia Ponds Wildlife Management Area (WMA), un- Consequently the remaining Hawaiian wetlands that still der jurisdiction of the U.S Marine Corps since 1952, is harbour a few adaptive indigenous species also face a con- located on the 1194 ha Mokapu Peninsula, one of several stant onslaught of alien species encroachment from the land parcels comprising Marine Corps Base Hawaii surrounding, extensively-altered landscape. (MCBH). This peninsula separates Kane’ohe Bay from Kailua Bay, and the Nu’upia Ponds connect the peninsula Hawai’i’s intertidal wetlands in pre-contact times had only to the rest of the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i (Fig. 1). The a few species of plants. Polynesian settlers, who altered 195 ha complex today includes eight interconnected shal- many of these areas to plant introduced taro (Colocasia), low ponds, associated mudflats and scrublands (Drigot grow seaweed, create saltpans, etc., affected plant succes- 1999). Prior to Polynesian settlement, the ponds were sion. Egler (1939) suggested the following successional thought to be either a shallow open channel between stages have occurred in many Hawaiian intertidal areas Kane’ohe and Kailua Bays, making Mokapu an island, or after Western discovery: (1) Original native communities an embayment off Kane’ohe Bay with Mokapu connected of widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima), various algae and to O’ahu by a thin coastal barrier dune-land strand. In ei- sessile organisms, (2) introduction of pickleweed (Batis ther case, the Hawaiian settlers exploited this shallow open maritima) and subsequent development of pure meadows, water area by subdividing it into several fishponds and a (3) introduction and spread of red mangrove (Rhizophora saltworks area, separated by hand-built coral and basalt mangle), (4) extirpation of indigenous hau (Hibiscus rock walls. Later, 20th century settlers further subdivided tiliaceus) forests by mangrove forests, and (5) the even- these ponds by additional causeways into the eight ponds tual displacement of pickleweed meadows by mangrove present today. Late 19th and early 20th century cattle graz- forests (Allen 1998; Simberloff 1990). ing over most of the Mokapu Peninsula contributed to ero- sional sedimentation and creation of extensive mudflats Pages 240-248 In Veitch, C. R. and Clout, M. N. (eds.). Turning the tide: the eradication of invasive species. IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Rauzon and Drigot: Weed control in a Hawaiian wetland and bird responses native mangrove ecological guild to benefit from increased productivity of mangrove habitat, native species give way to non-native species pre-adapted to mangroves. In addition, mangrove propagules survive at a significantly higher rate in Hawai’i than they do in areas where indig- enous seed predators exist (Steele et al. 1999). Mangroves quickly cover the wetland margins, which are an essential foraging habitat for key native Hawaiian wildlife species, and eventually displace the invasive pickleweed at the wetland’s intertidal margins. Mangrove prop roots trap fine sediment and extend the shallow waters of fishpond edges Fig 1 Location of Nuupia Ponds WMA on – an undesirable condition in Hawai’i since it decreases Mokapu Peninsula, Oahu, Hawaii. water circulation, increases algal production, depletes dis- solved oxygen levels, increases the temperature, acidity, and salinity levels, as well as accelerating deterioration of that have been largely colonised by alien vegetation. About Nu’upia Ponds’ historic fishpond walls. one metre of very fine particle mud sits upon a solid and contiguous underlying ancient coral reef formation. The Nu’upia Ponds WMA is primarily managed by the Marines as a protected habitat for the federally endangered The shores of Nu’upia Ponds are bordered by thick, low Hawaiian stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni), an en- vegetation mats composed almost entirely of pickleweed, demic subspecies of the black-necked stilt. Recent genetic introduced from South America to Hawai’i around 1859. and extant morphological and behavioural evidence sug- The plant is highly salt-tolerant and grows in moist soil gests the insular Hawaiian stilt is a distinct species (Pratt and shallow water. Short but dense monotypic stands of and Pratt 2001). The stilt’s optimal habitat is open mudflats pickleweed exclude shorebirds and waterbirds from for- with water depths of 13 cm or less and ponds of variable aging or nesting on the mudflats. In drier upland areas, salinity (Engilis and Pratt 1993). Stilts using the WMA Indian fleabane (Pluchea indica), Brazilian pepper tree represent between 10% and 20% of the entire Hawaiian (Schinus terebinthifolius), and koa-haole (Leucaena population that may fluctuate between 1200 and 1600 birds leucocephala) form a dense thicket. (Engilis and Pratt 1993). Red mangrove seeds first entered in the WMA in the early Under military protection since World War II, Nu’upia 1970s through culverts connecting the pond complex to Ponds became critical stilt habitat that aided their recov- adjoining bays. By 1974, the trees had become a pest spe- ery from near-extinction. Habitat loss and hunting through- cies (Drigot 2000). Mangroves cover intertidal soft out Hawai’i reduced stilt numbers to about 200 birds substrate in most of the tropics but are not native to Hawai’i. statewide by the early 1940s (Munro 1944). A ban on hunt- Red mangroves were first introduced to Hawai’i from ing prior to World War II permitted the partial recovery of Florida in 1902 to mitigate erosion after the destruction of the population and a high of 128 stilts was recorded in coastal vegetation on the island of Moloka’i by humans 1948 at Nu’upia Ponds (Fig. 2). After 1948, stilt counts in and livestock (Merlin 1977). In 1922, 14,000 seedlings of the WMA unaccountably dropped; only two of 20 counts red mangrove and three other mangrove species were exceeded 50 birds from 1949 to 1964. There was also a planted in the saltmarshes of O’ahu. Within 50 years, red period in late 1957 and early 1958 when, for unknown mangrove established a monotypic community in many reasons, no birds were found. The average bird count from fishponds, estuaries and sheltered coastlines in Hawai’i, 1949 to 1964 was 30 birds. Stilt populations on O’ahu, estimated to be about 32% of all estuarine intertidal habi- including those at Nu’upia Ponds, have shown a steady tat in 1977 (Allen 1998). A similar situation occurred on increase coincident with active habitat management since Rodrigues Island (Indian Ocean) where unique mudflat the 1980s (Engilis and Pratt 1993). habitat was destroyed by mangroves presumably planted to benefit wildlife (Sherley 2000). METHODS Red mangrove grows as robustly in the Hawaiian coastal Systematic pickleweed control was begun in the early environment as in its native range. Odum (1970) found 1980s and has been crucial in maintaining open habitat that red mangroves in south Florida shed their leaves at an for stilt feeding, loafing, and nesting. The vegetation is annual rate of 9 metric tons per hectare (about 2.5 grams controlled annually during Marine Corps training with 26- per m2 per day). Studies from Nu’upia Ponds report 2.98 ton Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs) (Fig.3).
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