Location: Invasive Species and Pollinator Health
Project Number: 2030-22000-029-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Dec 15, 2015
End Date: Nov 29, 2020
Objective:
The overall objective of this project is to conduct research to understand the biogeography of invasive pest species and the ecology of invaded systems at a large spatial scale relevant to solving critically important invasive weed and insect pest problems. Sustainable solutions to these problems have been elusive when traditionally approached at smaller, local scales. Geospatial variation in physical and biological processes across aquatic, riparian and agricultural ecosystems can drive pest abundance and affect impacts to entire watersheds, and knowledge is needed to develop effective spatially explicit management approaches and ultimately to improve environmental quality. Specifically, we will focus on the following assigned objectives.
Objective:
1) Identify and quantify biological and ecological processes underlying the colonization and spread of key invasive aquatic and riparian plant species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta–San Francisco Bay, and other impacted watersheds, including the effects of spatially diverse physical processes, environmental conditions, and management strategies on these weeds.
Subobjective 1A: Evaluate spatially diverse processes and environmental conditions and their relationship to the colonization, spread and management of aquatic and riparian weed species.
Subobjective 1B: Evaluate the role of phenotypic plasticity and genetic differentiation on the capacity of invasive aquatic plants/populations to maintain fitness in response to climate change.
2) Develop scientific monitoring methods to guide geospatially-explicit adaptive management for invasive weeds of western watersheds (e.g., water primroses, curlyleaf pondweed, water hyacinth, Brazilian waterweed, and cordgrasses), and develop integrated weed management and watershed restoration strategies effective under various climate scenarios and at landscape scales.
Subobjective 2A: Develop geospatially-explicit monitoring methods to guide adaptive management of invasive weeds in Pacific western watersheds.
Subobjective 2B: Determine the efficacy of aquatic weed biological control as influenced by pesticide use and evaluate non-target impacts of pesticides on aquatic food webs at watershed reaches adjacent to agricultural lands.
Subobjective 2C: Determine invasive pest impacts and develop integrated ecological restoration - pest management strategies to overcome pest impacts and achieve restoration goals under climate/environmental change conditions.
3) Develop integrated pest management (IPM) programs for the control of key invasive insect and mite pests, such as brown marmorated stink bug, spotted wing drosophila, and light brown apple moth, attacking specialty crops in the Sacramento-San Joaquin.
Approach:
We will evaluate the influence of hydrology, water management and other environmental factors on the spatial variation in propagule pressure, dispersal and establishment of Ludwigia hexapetala throughout the Russian River watershed using field experiments. We will evaluate mechanisms underlying distribution and spread of South American spongeplant in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) and develop a GIS-based model to predict movement and new invasion sites. We will document release efforts, quantify spatial extent of establishment success and measure geographic range expansion of the saltcedar leaf beetle Diorhabda elongata 10 years following its release in Cache Creek Watershed. The effect of salinity and inundation on survival, growth and dispersal of invasive Iris pseudacorus will be assessed at watershed and landscape scales through field research and mesocosm experiments. In a cross-continent comparative experiment, phenotypic plasticity in germination responses of Ludwigia cytotypes to increasing temperature under predicted climate change conditions will be determined for risk assessments. Decision support tools integrating remote and field-based monitoring techniques for aquatic weeds in the Delta will be developed using remote sensing technology and ground-truthing studies. We will evaluate the water hyacinth planthopper and the water hyacinth weevil for integrated management of water hyacinth in the Delta in areas with and without pesticide applications for weed and mosquito control. Field research at multiple sites representing climatic variation will be conducted to assess aquatic invertebrate community responses to integrated weed management of aquatic weed mats (water hyacinth and Brazilian waterweed) and pesticide runoff in the Delta using a Before, After, Control, Intervention (BACI) experimental design. In the Russian River watershed, we will evaluate aquatic plant community distribution, composition and diversity relative to invasion and abundance of Ludwigia hexapetala, flow patterns and other environmental variables to develop future competitive interaction experiments and support reach-scale restoration strategies. To support control of insect pests on specialty crops in California, we will quantify regional dispersal patterns of the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) and spotted wing drosophila (SWD) as influenced by specialty crop type (grape, asparagus, cherry, almond, pear and walnut) and proximity to alternative susceptible hosts including invasive blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) in the Delta. BMSB populations are projected to reach outbreak levels in the Delta but this research will focus on SWD if densities of BMSB fail to reach sufficient levels to be studied at this scale.
