Category: Invasive Plants

Chinese Tallow Litter and Tadpoles

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Centuries ago, a tree was plucked out of its native ecosystems and introduced to the U.S. Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) is a showy tree with waxy seeds and heart-shaped leaves. Every autumn, its leaves turn crimson or orange before falling to the ground – or the water. “Chinese tallow invades wetlands and riparian areas in…  More 

Do Roads Drive Forest Plant Invasions?

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
Roads provide a means for moving people and products, but they can also allow hitchhiking organisms to spread. Some exotic invasive plants thrive on the disturbance created by road construction that displaces native plants. However, a new study led by Kurt Riitters, U.S. Forest Service research ecologist with the SRS Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, found…  More 

The Thorny Economics of Preventing Exotic Species Introductions

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
What if we lose tree species we know, love, and need? It has happened before. “Look at what happened to the American chestnut,” says U.S. Forest Service research forester Thomas Holmes. “Look at what’s happening right now to hemlock, redbay, and ash trees.” All three species, as well as many more, are threatened by non-native…  More 

Plant Invasion Patterns at Global and Regional Scales

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
From the moment of colonization, humans have carried non-native plants around the world with them. “The introductions are changing the world’s biogeography,” says U.S. Forest Service research ecologist Qinfeng Guo. “Understanding the mechanisms behind invasion patterns is critically important.” Invasion patterns vary depending on the scale. At finer scales, invasions are often related to competition.…  More 

Exotic Plants May Dominate After a Fire, But Not for Long

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
Land managers expect that exotic invasive plants will quickly move in following a disturbance, especially after a fire. Though exotics initially might have an edge over native plants on burned ground, this may not always be so as time goes on, according to a U.S. Forest Service study. Qinfeng Guo, a research ecologist with the…  More 

Kudzu’s Entanglement of South Begins to Unravel

by Dan Chapman - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  • 
Kudzu, the nightmare weed that gobbled the South, is disappearing. Slowly, inexorably, the scientists, foresters, farmers and goats — yes, goats — are gaining the upper hand on the slinky, creepy green vine that makes abandoned homes and utility poles disappear seemingly overnight. Kudzu’s decline is difficult for a Southerner to grasp. Drive down that…  More 

Controlling Cogongrass

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
Has cogongrass invaded your land? The first step — and the easiest — is identifying the plant itself, which the U.S. federal government and multiple states list as a noxious weed. Cogongrass has some features that make it fairly easy to identify. Compared to the deep green hues of other grasses typically found in the South, the…  More 

Cogongrass Can Be Stopped

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Over the past decade, U.S. Forest Service researchers have been working with university cooperators to find some way to slow down or stop the relentless spread of cogongrass. In late 2014, Auburn University researchers reported results that demonstrated, for the first time, that patches of cogongrass can be eliminated completely within three years — showing…  More 

Cogongrass Continues to Invade the South

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
It grows on every continent except Antarctica and has earned a reputation as one of the worst weeds on earth — and according to U.S. Forest Service emeritus scientist Jim Miller, cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is without doubt one of the most threatening invasive species in the South. In addition to cogongrass, it goes by  other…  More 

When Privet’s Removed, Native Plants and Pollinators Return

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Forests infested with privet invoke a kind of despair in people attuned to the problem of invasive plants. Privet invades a forest quickly, sprawling across the understory and growing into thickets that crowd out native plants and change the very ecology of an area. Even if the woody shrub can be removed effectively, can a…  More