Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:13:51.313Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Adaptive Control of Phalaris arundinacea in Curtis Prairie

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael T. Healy
Affiliation:
Adaptive Restoration, LLC, Mt. Horeb, WI 53572
Isabel M. Rojas*
Affiliation:
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
Joy B. Zedler
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison Department of Botany, Arboretum, and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, WI 53706
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Curtis Prairie is an 80-yr-old restored prairie that, despite its diverse vegetation and dense cover, was invaded by Phalaris arundinacea (reed canarygrass) during the 1980s. Our search for a method to eradicate Phalaris involved field tests of a grass-specific herbicide (sethoxydim as Vantage®). To reduce Phalaris growth and favor native vegetation, we used an adaptive approach that began in 2005 by testing sethoxydim application with and without adding a seed mix of 32 native plants. Sethoxydim reduced flowering but not cover of Phalaris; we therefore reapplied sethoxydim to all the 2005 plots in 2006 and again in 2007. We began a second experiment in 2006 that combined late-May burning followed by late-June sethoxydim application. This combination reduced Phalaris cover the most of all treatments. In a third experiment in 2007 we repeated the late-May burn + late-June sethoxydim treatment but did not find a reduction in Phalaris cover. We attribute differences in burning + herbicide effects to year effects. Because the Phalaris canopy remained dense even where we applied sethoxydim for 3 yr (first experiment, 2005), we were not surprised that our 2005 seeding of 32 native forbs and graminoids (but not grasses) barely increased native species presence. Six years after seeding, however, we found 12 of the seeded species along with 21 unseeded natives. The adaptive approach of designing new experiments based on prior results led to a promising approach in 2006 (burning before applying sethoxydim to the resprouting Phalaris). Repeating that combination in 2007 indicated a year effect and that no single approach would eradicate this clonal grass.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Annen, CA (2007a) Guidelines for selecting herbicide additives for reed canarygrass control. Pages 45 in Plants Out of Place. http://ipaw.org/newsletters/issue17.pdf. Accessed December 10, 2013.Google Scholar
Annen, CA (2007b) Herbicide resistance management practices for reed canarygrass. Pages 811 in Plants Out of Place. http://ipaw.org/newsletters/issue17.pdf. Accessed December 10, 2013Google Scholar
Beckett, TH, Stoller, EW, Bode, LE (1992) Quizalofop and sethoxydim activity as affected by adjuvants and ammonium fertilizers. Weed Sci 40:1219.Google Scholar
Brooks, ML (2008) Plant invasions and fire regimes. Pages 3345 in Zouhar, K, Smith, JK, Sutherland, S, Brooks, ML, eds. Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Fire and Nonnative Invasive Plants. Ogden, UT U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol. 6.Google Scholar
Cochrane, T, Elliot, K, Lipke, C (2006) Prairie Plants of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum. Madison University of Wisconsin Press. 365 pGoogle Scholar
Curtis, JT (1959) The Vegetation of Wisconsin. Madison University of Wisconsin Press. 704 pGoogle Scholar
Eppinga, MB, Kaproth, MA, Collins, AR, Molofsky, J (2011) Litter feedbacks, evolutionary change and exotic plant invasion. J Ecol 99:503514 Google Scholar
Eppinga, MB, Molofsky, J (2013) Eco-evolutionary litter feedback as a driver of exotic plant invasion. Perspect Plant Ecol 15:2030 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galatowitsch, S (2012) Ecological Restoration. Sunderland Sinauer Associates. 630 pGoogle Scholar
Galatowitsch, SM, Anderson, NO, Ascher, PD (1999) Invasiveness in wetland plants in temperate North America. Wetlands 19:733755 Google Scholar
Hatch, BK, Bernthal, TW (2008) Mapping Wisconsin Wetlands Dominated by Reed Canary Grass, Phalaris arundinacea L.: A Landscape Level Assessment. Final Report to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region V Wetland Grant 96544501-0. Madison Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 28 pGoogle Scholar
Healy, MT (2008) Adaptive Restoration of Wetlands Dominated by Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea): A Case Study for Integrating Research with Land Care and Restoration. M.S. thesis. Madison, WI University of Wisconsin, Madison. 109 pGoogle Scholar
Healy, MT, Zedler, JB (2010) Setbacks in replacing Phalaris arundinacea monotypes with sedge meadow vegetation. Restor Ecol 18:155164 Google Scholar
Herr-Turoff, A, Zedler, JB (2007) Does morphological plasticity of the Phalaris arundinacea canopy increase invasiveness? Plant Ecol 193:265277 Google Scholar
Kaproth, MA, Eppinga, MB, Molofsky, J (2013) Leaf litter variation influences invasion dynamics in the invasive wetland grass Phalaris arundinacea . Biol Invasions 15:18191832 Google Scholar
Kercher, SM, Herr-Turoff, A, Zedler, JB (2007) Understanding invasion as a process: the case of Phalaris arundinacea in wet prairies. Biol Invasions 9:657665 Google Scholar
Kettenring, KM, Gardner, G, Galatowitsch, SM (2006) Effect of light on seed germination of eight wetland Carex species. Ann Bot Lond 98:869874 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lavergne, S, Molofsky, J (2004) Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) as a biological model in the study of plant invasions. Crit Rev Plant Sci 23:415429 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavergne, S, Molofsky, J (2006) Control strategies for the invasive reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) in North American wetlands: the need for an integrated management plan. Nat Area J 26:208214 Google Scholar
Lavergne, S, Molofsky, J (2007) Increased genetic variation and evolutionary potential drive the success of an invasive grass. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104:38833888 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindig-Cisneros, R, Zedler, JB (2001) Effect of light on seed germination in Phalaris arundinacea L. (reed canary grass). Plant Ecol 155:7578 Google Scholar
Lindig-Cisneros, R, Zedler, JB (2002a) Phalaris arundinacea seedling establishment: effects of canopy complexity in fen, mesocosm, and restoration experiments. Can J Bot 80:617624 Google Scholar
Lindig-Cisneros, R, Zedler, JB (2002b) Relationships between canopy complexity and germination microsites for Phalaris arundinacea L. Oecologia 133:159167 Google Scholar
Martina, JP, von Ende, CN (2012) Highly plastic response in morphological and physiological traits to light, soil-N and moisture in the model invasive plant, Phalaris arundinacea . Environ Exp Bot 82:4353 Google Scholar
Matysiak, R, Nalewaja, JD (1999) Temperature, adjuvants, and UV light affect sethoxydim phytotoxicity. Weed Technol 13:94.Google Scholar
McInnes, D, Harker, KN, Blackshaw, RE, Vanden Born, WH (1992) The influence of ultraviolet light on the phytotoxicity of sethoxydim tank mixtures with various adjuvants. Pages 2052013 in Foy, CL, ed. Adjuvants for Agrichemicals. Boca Raton, FL CRC.Google Scholar
McMullan, PM (1996) Grass Herbicide efficacy as influenced by adjuvant, spray solution pH, and ultraviolet light. Weed Technol 10:72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[NOAA] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service. (2015) NOAA Online Weather Data. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=mkx. Accessed June 8, 2015.Google Scholar
Prairie Moon, Nursery (2015) 2015 Catalog and Cultural Guide. http://www.prairiemoon.com/home.php. Accessed February 6, 2015.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2012) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria R Foundation for Statistical Computing Google Scholar
Reinhardt Adams, C, Galatowitsch, SM (2006) Increasing the effectiveness of reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) control in wet meadow restorations. Restor Ecol 14:441451 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stiles, CA, Bemis, B, Zedler, JB (2008) Evaluating edaphic conditions favoring reed canary grass invasion in a restored native prairie. Ecol Restor 26:6170 Google Scholar
Wilcox, JC, Healy, MT, Zedler, JB (2007) Restoring native vegetation to an urban wet meadow dominated by reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) in Wisconsin, USA. Nat Area J 27:354365 Google Scholar
Zedler, JB, Callaway, JC (2003) Adaptive restoration: a strategic approach for integrating research into restoration projects. Pages 167174 in Rapport, DJ, Lasley, WL, Rolston, DE, Nielsen, NO, Qualset, CO, Damana, AB, eds. Managing for Healthy Ecosystems. Boca Raton, FL Lewis Google Scholar