Monday, January 16, 2012
"A relatively small percentage of introduced species are truly problematic and a threat to native biodiversity," says Tomas A. Carlo, Penn State assistant professor of biology. "Most introduced species become 'naturalized' and fully integrated into their new communities." (more)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Road maintenance may accidentally spread the seeds of invasive plants, according to Penn State researchers. "The road graders that are used during these operations can act like a plow, pushing seeds along the road," said Emily Rauschert, senior project associate and applied ecologist in crop and soil sciences. "They can pick up seeds of an invasive grass and spread them several orders of magnitude further than the natural dispersal." The researchers created a computer simulation based on field experiments that showed how road regrading in the spring could play a role in the rapid spread of Japanese stilt grass -- an invasive plant that can grow up to 5 feet tall -- in the Rothrock State Forest area. The plant is considered a threat because its dense growth can prevent trees and native plants from growing. "Initially, this plant wasn't present locally," Rauschert said. "But within 10 years or so foresters noticed that the plant had spread throughout the area." (more)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Invasive plants are advancing into Eastern forests at an alarming rate, and the rapid spread has been linked by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to forest road maintenance and the type of dirt and stone used on roads. Perhaps predictably, according to David Mortensen, a professor of weed ecology who has been studying the spread of invasive plants for nearly two decades, humans are unwittingly accelerating the relentless march of invasives into even isolated forests.
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