1. A RUNDO D ONAX T HE G IANT R EED

2. CONTENTS WHAT IS ARUNDO DONAX ? HISTORY AND USES BIOLOGY INVASION POTENTIAL EXPERT SYSTEM IMPACT – Questions 1 – 4 INVASIVENESS – Questions 5 – 11 DISTRIBUTION – Questions 12 – 15 EFFECT OF FIRE – Questions 16 – 20 DATA AND GIS SOURCES PROPOSED ANALYSIS

3. W HAT IS A RUNDO DONAX ? Common Names: Giant Reed, Bamboo Reed, Spanish Reed, Spanish Cane, and Wild Cane Description: Tall perennial grass; can grow 6 – 10 m in height. Origin: Sub-continental India Indigenous to: Spain, Egypt, India, Nepal, Eurasia, eastern Asia, and the Mediterranean. Habitat: Riparian areas; wetlands; coastal habitat Dispersal: Spreads vegetatively through rhizomes. Growth form: Hydrophyte; forms massive dense stands. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arundo_donax_004.JPGhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arundo_donax_004.JPG; http://www.esa.org/esablog/ecology-in-policy/when-it-comes-to- invasive-species-can-we-learn-from-our-mistakes/http://www.esa.org/esablog/ecology-in-policy/when-it-comes-to- invasive-species-can-we-learn-from-our-mistakes/ A B

4. H ISTORY Intentionally distributed around the world because of its many uses (Dudley 2000). Does well in a Mediterranean-type climate. Naturalized and invasive in many regions, including southern Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands, South America, Australia, Southeast Asia, Mexico and the United States (Hafliger & Scholz 1981). First detected in the USA in the 1850s (Herrera & Dudley 2003), and today is invasive in sub-tropical, temperate, arid and semi-arid regions of North America (Langeland & Burks 1998).

5. U SES Biofuel Construction Crafts Woodwind instruments Dimethyl-tryptimine http://www.flickr.com/photos/80686584@N03/7462269180 / http://www.worldsstrangest.com/drb/living-growing-architecture / / http://images.yourdictionary.com/chemist

6. B IOLOGY Hydrophyte. Grows along lakes, streams, drains, and other wet sites. Does not need a constant supply of water, and can grow on drier banks and roadsides. Pale green to blue-green leaves. Younger plants resemble the common reed Phragmites australis. Perennial C 3 grass species Stems may reach 10 metres in height. Grows in large stands many metres wide, and contains hundreds of stems per stand Does not produce viable seed in most areas where it has been introduced. Reproduction occurs from rhizomes and stem fragments, usually carried by flood waters.

7. I NVASION POTENTIAL Globally invasive Regions of Mediterranean type climate Spreads vegetatively through rhizomes and stem fragments Carried down river systems by floods Why is it successful? http://cisr.ucr.edu/giant_reed_arundo.html

8. G LOBAL I NVASION

9. B IOCLIM 2.5 M INUTE N ICHE M ODEL

10. CALIFORNIA Large area - 40 393 400 ha or 403 934 sq km California Floristic Province – a global biodiversity hotspot Highest levels of diversity and endemism in the US Variable vegetation types Climate Primary rivers and associated catchments and basins

11. A RUNDO DONAX E XPERT S YSTEM Overview of Arundo donax Including the species classification; a species description; biology; distribution; reproduction and dispersal; habitat types Overview of the state of California in terms of: Biodiversity; climate; vegetation and important ecosystems

12. Q UESTIONS 1 – 4 FOCUS ON THE IMPACT OF A RUNDO DONAX Q1: What is the impact on abiotic ecosystem process? Q2: What is the impact on plant community composition, structure, and interactions? Q3: What is the impact on higher trophic levels? Q4: What is the impact on genetic diversity?

13. Q UESTIONS 5 – 11 LOOK AT THE INVASIVENESS OF A RUNDO DONAX Q5: What is the role of anthropogenic and natural disturbance in the establishment of Arundo donax ? Q6: What is the local rate of spread without management? Q7: What is the recent trend in the total area infested within California? Q8: What is Arundo donax’s innate reproductive potential? Q9: What is the potential for human caused dispersal? Q10: What is the potential for natural long-distance dispersal? Q11: Which other regions have been invaded by Arundo donax ?

14. Q UESTIONS 12 – 15 LOOK AT A RUNDO DONAX DISTRIBUTION Q12: Where is Arundo donax distributed and where is its peak frequency? Q13: What is the extent of invasion in the United States? Q14: In what type of vegetation does the species occur in its home range? Q15: Is Arundo donax a habitat specialist in its home environment?

15. Q UESTIONS 16 – 20 LOOK AT THE EFFECTS OF FIRE Q16: Is intense fire a prominent characteristic of the home environment and does the area have a fire adapted biota? Q17: Does fire play a role in dispersal? Q18: What is the typical fire return time in the home environment?

16. D ATA S OURCES LOCATION DATA GBIF – http://data.gbif.org/species/2703041/http://data.gbif.org/species/2703041/ CALFLORA - http://www.calflora.org/http://www.calflora.org/ Cal-IPC - http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi- bin/get_consort.plhttp://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi- bin/get_consort.pl SPATIAL DATA DIVA-GIS – variety of shapefiles and bioclim data sets Cal-Atlas: Geospatial Clearing House - http://atlas.ca.gov/download.html http://atlas.ca.gov/download.html

17. P RELIMINARY MODEL - C ALIFORNIA

18. A NALYSIS Look at extent of invasion globally and locally Point data into grid data to look at different indexes of diversity (e.g. species richness) Climate Modelling using DIVA-GIS and the bioclim 10min current and future climate data sets Mapping endangered species occurrences and correlating with Arundo distribution models (will use target species such as amphibians, fish and riparian vegetation) This will enable one to map priority levels for management decisions.

19. A CCESSABILITY Blog Datasets and metadata Final project Expert system Links GIS Glossary

20. R EFERENCES Bell, G.P. (1997) Ecology and management of Arundo donax, and approaches to riparian habitat restoration in southern California. Plant invasions: studies from North America and Europe. (eds J.H. Brock, M. Wade, P. Pyšek & D. Green), pp. 103-113. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands. Bromilow, C. (2001) Problem plants of South Africa – a guide to identification and control of more than 300 invasive plants and other weeds. Briza Publications, Pretoria. CalfloraCalflora: Information on California plants for education, research and conservation. [web application]. 2013. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database [a non-profit organization]. Available: http://www.calflora.org/ (Accessed: Jun 02, 2013)DatabaseAvailablehttp://www.calflora.org/ DiTomaso, J.M. 1998. Biology and ecology of giant reed. Proc., Arundo and saltcedar workshop. Las Vegas, NV; Iverson, M.E. 1998. Effects of Arundo donax on water resources. CalEPPC News 6:10-11 Dudley, T. 2000. Arundo donax. In, Invasive Plants of Californias Wildlands. Eds., C. Bossard, J. Randall, and M. Hoshovsky. UC Press, Berkeley; Team Arundo Del Norte, www.teamarundo.org/index.html; www.teamarundo.org/index.html Hoshovsky, M. 1986. Arundo donax. The Nature Conservancy Elements of Stewardship Abstract. Tncweeds.ucdaivs.edu/esadocs/arundona.html; also much observational data (T. Dudley, C. Bossard, J. DiTomaso, etc.) Langeland, K.A. & Burks, K.C. (1998) Identification and biology of non-native plants in Florida’s natural areas. IFAS Distribution Centre, University of Gainesville, Florida. Perdue, RE, (1958). Arundo donax —Source of musical reeds and industrial cellulose, Economic Botany 12: 368–404. http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/california_hotspot/overview.htm http://www.natureserve.org/images/caPlantRichness.jpg http://ceres.ca.gov/ceres/calweb/biodiversity/evolution.html