Group B: Impacts of Invasive Species on Ecosystem Processes and Structures Q1: Critical Scientific Issues Data: Long-term data and data availability Basic studies and information on IS impacts on ecosystem processes Host-specific information on host’s role in ecosystem function that is scalable Models: A general framework to help predict/scale IS (and host) effects on ecosystem processes -> prevention Predictive ability of thresholds and alternative stable states, which systems are invadable Availability to scale data Tech transfer Make relevant to the public (ecosystem service impacts from IS)

Group B: Impacts of Invasive Species on Ecosystem Processes and Structures Q2: Critical Management and Policy Issues Management: How does management/restoration influence invasability? How do we measure success? Performance-based outcomes/metrics linked to processes Hysteresis and lag effects (how long until we see change?) Policy: Policy and management prioritization should be science driven, especially with declining budgets Shrinking budgets: how do you prioritize one policy over another (TES vs IS) Management x Policy: How do we motivate policy? Land use: increasing pressure on public lands (mitigation, refugia, genetic reservoirs) N-deposition affects IS success positively and negatively Social perceptions of importance of change in ecosystem process

Group B: Impacts of Invasive Species on Ecosystem Processes and Structures Q3: Scientific Data, Models Available to Inform This Topic There are existing databases and models, but there is not a lot available to address impacts of IS on ecosystem processes. Ecosystem models exist, but are not species-specific (big leaf models) Do FACE experiments include IS? DataModelsSyntheses FIAS-T ModelsMeta-analyses NRCS soil mapsFood web models LTERNIDRM EFR NetworkHawkes, D’Antonio, Ostertag, Sykes NPS monitoringLovett et al Databases for IS and func. traits Ghandi and Herms, 2010 LiDAR MODIS and NDVI

Group B: Impacts of Invasive Species on Ecosystem Processes and Structures Q4: Issues Likely to Become Important by 2040 Climate Change: Invasion by climate change interactions (predispose or weaken host; strengthen IS) Shifting restoration targets Faster/bigger effects of IS than CC Populations Human health affected by IS (pollen, disease vectors) Demands for ecosystem services (water quality/quantity; food and water security) Reduced scientific literacy with increasing urbanization Thresholds Invasion debt – critical threshold tipping innocuous invader to a real problem IS as additional stress on valued resources, such as TES

Group B: Impacts of Invasive Species on Ecosystem Processes and Structures Q5: How This Topic can Potentially Connect With Other Topics in Chapter Outline CH. 1: What is the definition of IS? CH. 2: How do process changes affect native species, communities, and populations? Changes in communities, species, and landscapes leads to changes in ecosystem function. CH. 4 & 5: Relationships with other stressors (fire and climate change affect process and function) CH. 9: Changes processes can affect social/cultural heritage sites (erosion and important landscape features)

Group B: Impacts of Invasive Species on Ecosystem Processes and Structures Q6: What are the Gaps in Knowledge and Current Research What is the effect of IS on ecosystem processes? To what extent do invaders irreversibly change ecosystem processes? And affect efficacy of restoration? When do weak invaders become strong invaders? Can we predict this from the biology of the invader (how does this relate to management actions and time/succession)? When/why do hosts become vulnerable? How does increasing CO2 affect palatability/defenses of hosts? Belowground processes (myco, micro, C loss, earthworms, ground beetles) Cross-ecosystem effects – a process in 1 system may affect another system (terrestrial-aquatic) Gaps might be biome or system-dependent (more info on streams than forests) Cumulative impacts Diversity/resiliency relationships Per capita effects – for each IS, what is the change in process? How do broad scale drivers affect this?