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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Global Change and Photosynthesis Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #251466
Title: Variable Demographic Rates in an Invasive Plant Species: Differences Among Populations and Management Implications

Author
item EVANS, J - Dartmouth College
item Davis, Adam
item RAGHU, S - Northern Territory Government
item LANDIS, D - Michigan State University
item SCHEMSKE, D - Michigan State University

Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/12/2010
Publication Date: 8/5/2010
Citation: Evans, J., Davis, A.S., Raghu, S., Landis, D., Schemske, D. 2010. Variable Demographic Rates in an Invasive Plant Species: Differences Among Populations and Management Implications [abstract]. Ecological Society of America Abstracts. 95:OOS-54.

Interpretive Summary: It is tempting to categorically define plant species as "invasive" or "not invasive", since this permits a straightforward approach to deciding whether or not to manage a given species. Growing empirical evidence suggests that this may not be a prudent approach, however, as plant population growth rates are highly variable in space and time. In a regional study of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) demography, this exotic species acted like an invader, with rapidly expanding populations, only part of the time. For those populations that were rapidly expanding, a population dynamics simulation model indicated that a single biocontrol agent (Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis) should be able to control 33% of the populations in the study area. The addition of a leaf and stem feeding agent like C. alliariae may result in control of up to 50% of populations. Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach, land managers will need to manage invasive species in a population-specific way, aided by decision support models.

Technical Abstract: Population managers are frequently faced with the challenge of selecting the most effective management strategy from a set of available strategies. In the case of classical weed biological control, this requires predicting a priori which of a group of candidate biocontrol agent species has the greatest probability of suppressing the target plant. Previous demographic studies of weedy plant populations have sought to guide the development of management plans by identifying vulnerable transitions in the plant’s life cycle and matching them with management techniques or biocontrol agents that target those transitions. One key, but false, assumption of these analyses is that demographic rates are fixed within individual populations. As a result of this, optimal target transitions for management are also assumed to remain constant over time. We explored the consequences of relaxing this assumption in population models of the invasive weed Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) parameterized using three generations of demographic data from twelve natural populations in Michigan and Illinois. Linear deterministic matrix models were used analyze how spatial and temporal variation in population elasticity structures affects the rankings of target demographic transitions. A megamatrix model was then used to summarize temporal variation in growth within each site and generate preliminary estimates of successfully controlling A. petiolata with either single or multiple biocontrol agent species. Our results demonstrate that A. petiolata exhibits strikingly different growth rates (lambda) over time and space, with some populations struggling to survive and others rapidly expanding. Estimates of lambda ranged from 0.48 to 5.88 across all sites and years. Within sites lambda was temporally variable, ranging from 0.80 to 5.88 within one site. Site growth rates (Lambda M) ranged from 0.83 to 3.54 (mean = 1.90). Elasticity analyses indicated the importance of the seed bank to A. petiolata's success and persistence during bad years. Elasticity rankings varied with lambda, indicating that the transitions with the largest impacts on population growth differ for growing and declining populations and within populations during good and bad years. Thus, the optimal management strategy represents a moving target. Using available data on candidate biocontrol agent performance, our models suggest that a single biocontrol agent, the root-crown feeding weevil, Ceutorhynchus scrobicolis should be able to control 33% of the garlic mustard populations in our study area. The addition of a leaf and stem feeding agent like C. alliariae may result in control of up to 50% of populations.