APIRS PicksParticularly interesting new items in the APIRS database
Selections by reader/cataloger, Mary Langeland; elaborated by Vic Ramey
The most likely invaders of natural areas include aquatic or semi-aquatic plants, grasses, nitrogen-fixers, climbing plants, and clonal trees, according to an analysis of almost 2,800 agricultural weeds and natural area invaders world-wide. The analysis also found that only 25% of natural area invaders were also serious agricultural weeds.
Daehler, C.C. 1998. The Taxonomic Distribution of Invasive Angiosperm Plants: Ecological Insights and Comparison to Agricultural Weeds. Biol. Cons. 84:167-180.
A "greenhouse insect," Orthezia insignis, is a serious, non-native pest now infesting Florida landscape plants, including cultivated lantanas (Lantana sp.). This study compares susceptibility to this invasive insect by Florida's two native lantana species and 38 cultivars of two non-native lantana species. It was found that our native Lantana depressa and Lantana involucrata are much more susceptible to this insect threat than are any of the 38 exotic nursery cultivars.
Boschat, T.K. and Weissling, T.J. 2001. Susceptibility of Lantana Cultivars to Orthezia insignis. HortTechnology 11(3):460-462.
An endangered butterfly in the U.S. is becoming more endangered because its host plant, a wetland sedge, Carex stricta, is being paved over and drained by new highway and dredging projects. In 1997 only eleven populations were known; we wonder how many there are now.
Shuey, J.A. 1997. Conservation Status and Natural History of Mitchell's Satyr, Neonympha mitchellii mitchellii French (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Natural Areas Journal 17(2):153-163.
Read about "lag phase": "The promotion of new plants in the nursery trade creates an increasing incentive to only briefly evaluate and then immediately introduce new plants...It may be possible to effectively evaluate some herbaceous species in a given region within a few years, but woody plants may require twenty, thirty, or more years to effectively evaluate them."
McWilliams, E.L. and Arnold, M.A. 1998. Horticultural History Repeating Itself: Dispersal and the Invasion Lag Phase of Exotic Plants on the TAMU Campus. In: Proc. 10th Conf., Metropolitan Tree Improvement Alliance, St. Louis, MO, Sept 30-Oct 1, 1998.
Is this "the foundation for building a general theory of seed plant invasiveness"? The author reviews Darwin's explanation for invasion success, presents certain characteristics that may be required for invasiveness (seed size and periodicity, vertebrate availability, latitudinal range and genome size), and propounds a theory of plant invasiveness.
Rejmanek, M. 1996. A Theory of Seed Plant Invasiveness: The First Sketch. Biol. Cons. 78:171-181.
Watermilfoil Hybrids. DNA studies of invasive watermilfoil species reveal distinct sequences acquired from both nonindigenous and native North American species; that is, they are hybrids of native and non-native plants.
Moody, M.L. and Les, D.H. 2002. Evidence of Hybridity in Invasive Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum ) Populations, Proc. National Academy of Sciences 99(23):14867-14871, November 12, 2002.
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