Botanist Denis Conover does not have to go far to study the growing problem of invasive plants.
During an autumn stroll outside his office at the University of Cincinnati, the biology professor pointed out numerous examples of nonnative, invasive species in campus landscaping.
"This is winged euonymus, otherwise known as burning bush. And here is Chinese silver grass. It's a popular ornamental, but the seeds are dispersed by the wind," he said.
And there were many others: English ivy, wintercreeper, Callery pear.
For his latest study published in the journal Ecological Restoration, he and his students examined the impact that nonnative, invasive plants are having on forests. He found that plants at arboretums and public gardens inadvertently can seed wild areas with nonnative plants.
"The nonnative, invasive species are very detrimental to native ecosystems," Conover said. "Once they get going in the natural areas, they can take over and exclude the native plants and the animals that depend on them."
The example he used was the arboretum at Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery, which has recorded more than 1,200 species of trees, shrubs, vines, and other plants over its 178-year history. The arboretum is home to 26 noteworthy, mature trees known as "champions" for being the largest or best representation of their species, including a national champion September elm tree and an Ohio champion American yellowwood.
Conover said the arboretum is home to many beautiful native plants, including an enormous white oak that was a sapling when the Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Colony. But Conover said some exotic plants at the arboretum are bearing fruit and seeds that are being carried by birds or the wind to neighboring woods.
Some exotic plants introduced to people's yards and gardens will never pose a problem. But others can become invasive.
"You don't know. It may take decades before they show any signs of being invasive, like the Callery pear tree," Conover said.
UC has documented thousands of native and nonnative plant specimens at Spring Grove in surveys by people such as Kate Nordyke, the cemetery's former herbarium specialist. Conover now serves in that role as a volunteer, documenting plants to create a record that future scientists can use to study changes in the region's biodiversity over time.
Source: phys.org
Photo Credit: istock-martijnvandernat
Categories: Ohio, General