Invasion, Biodiversity, and Conservation: What Are They and How Are They Connected? Laura Hancock, M.S. student University of Massachusetts Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program Picture:
Overview 1.Invasion 2.Stinson Lab Research 3.Biodiversity 4.Conservation 5.Connecting these ideas 6.How you can get involved Photo: Peter Muka
Invasion: What is it? Native species live in an area where they are found naturally Species that have been moved by human activities to a location where they don’t naturally occur are exotic species When an exotic species negatively alters the native communities or causes economic problems it is invasive Not all exotic species are invasive!
Invasion: What About Plants? Animal invasions make it into the news a lot, but plants matter too! Its really easy to (accidentally) transport them Plants “self fertilize”
Invasion Hypotheses Biotic Resistance Hypothesis Propagule pressure Enemy release Novel weapons Polyploidy And many others
Biotic Resistance Hypothesis Ecosystems with high biodiversity are more resistant to invasive species than ecosystems with low biodiversity Low biodiversity = more invasible?
Propagule Pressure Hypothesis Propagule = seed Number of seeds released * number of releasing events Lots of seeds * lots of events = high propagule pressure Photo: Peter Muka
Enemy Release Hypothesis
Novel Weapons Hypothesis Novel = new Weapon = defense/ increases competitive ability games-version/255041/
Polyploidy Polyploid = more than two chromosomes More chromosomes = more variation = can better adapt to new places
Is it Invasive?!
Is it Invasive?! YES! Fallopia japonica; Japanese knotweed
Is it Invasive!?
Is it Invasive!? YES! Rhamnus frangula; glossy buckthorn
Guess the Invasive!?
Guess the Invasive!? Celastrus orbiculatus; Oriental bittersweet
Is it Invasive!?
Is it Invasive!? YES! Rosa multiflora; multiflora rose
Is it Invasive?!
Is it Invasive?! YES! Acer platanoides; Norway Maple
The Stinson Research Lab The main goals in our lab: 1.Identify range expansion mechanisms and changes in a population of garlic musatrd over time -> Me 2.Characterize the disruption of plant-mycorrhizal symbioses by garlic mustard -> Julia + Collaborators 3.Quantify the effects of global change on garlic mustard and its ability to invade -> Me, Julia, Collaborators 4.Identify the best way to eradicate garlic mustard while quickly restoring the native ecosystems
Alliaria petiolata; garlic mustard Invasive herbacious plant in much of the US Introduced to the US in about 1860 Prefers “edge” habitats, however..
More on Garlic Mustard Biennial plant -> two year growth Photo: Peter Muka First year rosettesSecond year adults alliaria-petiolata
Garlic Mustard and Mycorrhizal Fungi What is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)?? Garlic mustard doesn’t associate with AMF Garlic mustard inhibits association between native plants and AMF! tnerships_with_soil_fungi
My research: What is it? I’m trying to figure out: 1.Are the edge and understory sub-populations similar in size? 2.Is garlic mustard able to successfully sustain itself in the forest understory over time? Or is there a source-sink dynamic? 3.Is there a selection for a different ‘type’ of garlic mustard plant? E.g. smaller, taller, more flowers, more glucosinolates?
My research: Methods Forest Edge = Sunny Forest Understory = Shady Forest Edge = Sunny Forest Understory = Shady Forest Edge = Sunny Forest Understory = Shady 3 site * 2 habitats each = 6 plots At each of the 6 plots the number of rosettes and adults were counted Sites were counted in 2003, 2004, 2015
Garlic Mustard: IRL Photo: Peter Muka
My research: Results
Another Piece to the Puzzle… What about Climate change?
Julia and the SWaN Plots All plots are at the Harvard Forest, an LTER site Soil Warming and Nitrogen Plots 1.Control (no change) 2.Warmed Soil 3.Extra Nitrogen 4.Warmed Soil + Extra Nitrogen harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/blog/soil-alive%E2%80%A6%E2%80%A6with-microorganisms
Diversity! How do we measure it? Species Richness (= number of species in a community) But what about evenness? – It’s a measure of how close each species is in the community Two main indices: 1.Shannon Index 2.Simpson Index
Richness and Evenness Richness = 5
Diversity & Invasion Some native species use invasive species as a food source or nesting sites, however.. Simply adding a species doesn’t mean more diversity Video! ftiWffNTchttps:// ftiWffNTc
Connecting Invasion, Biodiversity, and Conservation What do we conserve? Conservation is already hard to do Think back to Invasion hypotheses and ecological interactions
Get involved Go Botany; gobotany.newenglandwild.org TIPS Network; tipsenemies.com