Sarah Whitney, Sara Stahlman

1 Pennsylvania Sea Grant

 Part of the National Sea Grant Program,  PASG is a partnership with Penn State University, NOAA, and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania  Three offices, focused on Lake Erie, The Susquehanna River/Chesapeake Bay, and the Delaware Estuary  Mission:  To combine research, education and outreach to empower Pennsylvania coastal communities to secure a healthy environment and economy

2 Invasive species  Outside natural geographic range  Introduced through human related release - intentional or unintentional  Cause ecological or economic hard, or harm to human or animal health

3 Natural geographic range  Natural barriers restricts species movement  Oceans, mountains, deserts, etc.  Temperature, salinity, etc

4 Success of invasion  Unchecked growth – herbivory and disease

http://dnr.state.il.us/stewardship/cd/biocontrol/11purpleloosestrife.html 5 Ecosystem impacts  Reduce species diversity  Compete with native species – problems for threatened and endangered species  Change animal community interactions  Degrade water quality  Increase debris buildup  Change sediment chemistry  Impede water flow and movement

6 Economic impacts  Impair recreation  Changes in flooding  Decrease property values  Create habitat for mosquitos  Reduce waterfowl habitat  Removal cost  $100,000,000 annually in the 1990’s (OTA 1993)  $29,700,000 in Florida 2008-2009 (Bureau of invasive plant management 2008) 7

Paths of introduction  Water gardens  Aquariums  Shipping industry  Boating  Fish stocking

8 Paths of introduction  Water gardens  Aquariums  Shipping industry  Boating  Fish stocking

9 Aquatic plants

Aquatic Plants

10 http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-044/426-044.html Aquatic plants

Grow in moist soil to shallow water Leaves and flowers mostly above surface

11 Aquatic plants

Submersed roots though un-rooted

12 Aquatic plants

Leaves and flowers typically above water, rooted in sediment

13 Aquatic plants

Oxygenator

14 Examples of aquatic invasive plants  Lythrum salicaria - Purple loosestrife  Trapa natans - Water chestnut  Hydrilla verticillata - Hydrilla

15 Lythrum salicaria  Purple loosestrife  European  Ornamental in 1800’s  ≤ 10’ tall  ≤ 50 stems/plant  ≤ 3,000,000 seeds/year  Pastures to shallow water  Spreads through seeds and vegetativly

16 Lythrum salicaria  Loss of high quality bird habitat  Reduce plant diversity  Change sediment nutrients  Change wetland function  Annual loss of 200,000 acres of wetlands each year (Getty et al 2009)

17 Lythrum salicaria  Costs $48,000,000 annually (Pimentel et al. 2000)  Control cost  Loss of forage  Waterfowl habitat loss  Irrigation system damage  Wild rice loss

18 http://dnr.state.il.us/stewardship/cd/biocontrol/11purpleloosestrife.html Trapa natans  Water chestnut  Europe, Africa, Asia  Ornamental in 1877  Shallow, still water ≤ 15’ deep - mostly 6’  Not Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis)  Annual species  Reproduces through four-pronged nutlet with barbs

19 Trapa natans  Dense surface canopies  Light penetration -95%  Depletes oxygen  Oxygenating species  Impacts invertebrates and fish  17,000 lbs of dry biomass/acre (Getty et al 2009)  add to sediment loads, turbidity and eutrophication  Low forage value for waterfowl

20 Trapa natans  Loss of recreational activities  Cost of removal  $4,597,351 (Naylor 2003)  1982-2001  Lake Champlain  $3,700,000  1939 – 1945  Potomac River

21 Hydrilla verticillata  Hydrilla  Asia  Oxygenator  Aquarium plant  Contaminate with common water garden plants  Spread vegetatively through turions and tubers

22 Hydrilla verticillata  Can grow in deep water where other plants cannot (Gettys et al 2009)  20’ Hydrilla vs. 8’ natives  80% of biomass 1- 2’ from surface  Shades out native species

23 Hydrilla verticillata  Annually in FL  $15,000,000 control (Gettys et al 2009)  $857,000 loss revenue (Lovell et al 2006)  Recreational value  Agriculture  Flood control  Residential property values

24 Aquatic Invaders Summary  Cause ecological and or economic harm  Outside natural geographic range  Human activities resulting in intentional or unintentional release

25 An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure  “Once a species is established, impacts grow over time and space, and are usually irreversible in perpetuity.”  -David Lodge, Ph.D.  Preventing introduction and spread of aquatic invaders is more cost effective then managing the problems once they happen

26 Plant Risk Assessment

Species pool

Transport

Introduced

Reproduction

Established

Spread, impacts

Invasive

27 Plant Risk Assessment

Available in trade/catalogs

Purchase & Delivery

Planted

Reproduction

Population growing

Takes over landscape

Requires effort to control (=invasive)

28 Plant Risk Assessment  Determine potential for invasion  Based on biological factors  Gordon et al 2012  Most regulations on species is reactive not proactive  Risk assessment allows for determining the possibility of a species being invasive in a certain environment

29 http://www.aquascapeinc.com/freeimages 30 Guidelines for all steps of owning a water garden

 When constructing a new water garden  When adding plants  When doing maintenance

31 32 33 Photo by Jim Weber 34 35 Purchase from reputable native plant nurseries

 The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) website provides a list of nurseries throughout the state that specialize in native species.

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/plants/nativeplants/

36  37  

38 Alternatives to Purple Loosestrife

Verbena hastata Liatris spicata Physostegia (blue vervain) (dense blazing star) virginiana Pontederia cordata (obedient plant) (pickerelweed)

39 Alternatives to Water Chestnut

Nuphar advena Nymphaea odorata Nelumbo lutea (yellow pond lily) (fragrant water-lily) (american lotus)

Potamogeton natans

(floating pondweed) 40 Alternatives to Hydrilla

Ceratophyllum demersum Elodea canadensis Potamogeton pectinatus (coontail) (American waterweed) (sago pondweed)

41 Before planting:

 Rinse plants in a bucket  Remove all dirt and any attached debris, including other vegetation, animals or eggs, before planting.  Dump bucket water and debris on dry land

42 Salvinia minima Egeria densa Hydrilla verticillata (hydrilla) (water spangles) (anacharis) 43 44 Nymphoides peltata (Yellow Floatingheart) Photo by Howard, R.A. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution 45 Nymphoides peltata (Yellow Floatingheart) Photo by Howard, R.A. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution 46 http://permaculturenews.org/2012/05/16/swales-the-permaculture-element-that-really-holds-water/ 47

48 49

Freeze unwanted plants in a sealed plastic bag and dispose in the trash.

50 51

52

53 Get the HabitattitudeTM

 A national education campaign created by a partnership of industry, academia and government.

 Focuses on raising public awareness, and engaging people to adopt a conservation mentality and not release unwanted fish and aquarium plants.

 All segments of industry are part of the solution. Alternatives to Release  Contact a retailer for proper handling advice or for possible returns  Give/trade with another aquarist, pond owner, or water gardener  Donate to a local aquarium society, school, or aquatic business  Seal aquatic plants in plastic bags and dispose in trash  Contact a veterinarian or pet retailer for guidance on humane disposal of animals

55

56 Pennsylvania’s Field Guide to Aquatic Invasive Species

57 Pocket Guide to Mid- Atlantic Water Garden Species  Developed by Diane Oleson from Penn State Cooperative Extension  Features Invasive Species and their native alternatives  Accompanying CD

58  On-line, GIS-based, all taxa data iMAP Invasives management tool imapinvasives.org  Currently tracks over 4,600 invasives  Contains over 300,000 records of invasive species occurrences

59 This project is a partnership between:……

60 Questions? Sarah Whitney Sara Stahlman

610-304-8753 814-217-9011 ext. 109 [email protected] [email protected]

www.paseagrant.org

61