Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T11:23:21.382Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Citizen science and land use data provide insight into the invasive riparian plant composition of the Hudson River Valley watershed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2022

Alexis Garretson*
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Fellow, Department of Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA; Mohonk-Loewy Data Curation Fellow, Daniel Smiley Research Center, Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz, NY, USA; current: Graduate Research Fellow, Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
Samantha Mohney
Affiliation:
Graduate Researcher, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Morgan Cahill
Affiliation:
Undergraduate Researcher, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Laurel Griffin
Affiliation:
Undergraduate Researcher, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Rachel Silarszka
Affiliation:
Undergraduate Researcher, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Natalie Feldsine
Affiliation:
Research Collection and Citizen Science Coordinator, Daniel Smiley Research Center, Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz, NY, USA
Megan N. Napoli
Affiliation:
Research Ecologist, Daniel Smiley Research Center, Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz, NY, USA
Elizabeth C. Long
Affiliation:
Director of Conservation Science, Daniel Smiley Research Center, Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz, NY, USA
Stream Watch Citizen Scientists Mohonk Preserve
Affiliation:
Citizen Scientists, Daniel Smiley Research Center, Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz, NY, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Alexis Garretson, 3197 Route 44 55, Gardiner, NY 12525. (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

Invasive plants in the riparian zone can negatively affect the characteristics and quality of a watershed. To support the development of a watershed management plan and foster public appreciation of the value of the riparian zone, Mohonk Preserve established a volunteer monitoring program surveying sites for invasive species. Between 2017 and 2019, citizen scientists repeatedly surveyed 20 sites in the Hudson River Valley in New York for 10 invasive plant species: purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.), common reed [Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud], multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora Thunb.), garlic mustard [Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara & Grande], dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis L.), Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum Siebold & Zucc.), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim.), barberry (Berberis spp.), Japanese stiltgrass [Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus], and Asiatic bittersweet (oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.). We found that the number of target species detected was higher on sites closer to paved roads and with increasing drainage area size, while lower with higher percentages of forested land in the basin. Our analysis results highlight variation in the presence of target invasive species across the Hudson River Valley region, highlighting sites and areas to monitor for future introductions and take action to prevent species’ invasions. Our results highlight differences in the most relevant abiotic factors for hydrophytes and non-hydrophyte species, underscoring the importance of considering species’ life-history traits before the development of management plans for invasive plant species in the riparian zone. Our case study of community-collected data in the Hudson River Valley region using a relatively simple monitoring protocol can provide a road map for other regions fostering volunteer engagement with invasive plants.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the 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.)

Footnotes

Associate Editor: John Cardina, Ohio State University

References

Abrams, MD, Sands, BA (2010) Oak forest composition on contrasting soil types at the Mohonk Preserve, Eastern New York. North J Appl For 27:105109 Google Scholar
Auble, GT, Friedman, JM, Scott, ML (1994) Relating riparian vegetation to present and future streamflows. Ecol Appl 4:544554 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barden, LS (1987) Invasion of Microstegium vimineum (Poaceae), an exotic, annual, shade-tolerant, C4 grass, into a North Carolina floodplain. Am Midl Nat 118:4045 Google Scholar
Barney, JN (2006) North American history of two invasive plant species: phytogeographic distribution, dispersal vectors, and multiple introductions. Biol Invasions 8:703717 Google Scholar
Bennett, A, Chronister, N (2017) Water resources of the Catskills. Page 192 in The Catskills: A Sense of Place. Arkville, New York: Catskill Center for Conservation and Development Google Scholar
Bradford, MA, Schumacher, HB, Catovsky, S, Eggers, T, Newingtion, JE, Tordoff, GM (2007) Impacts of invasive plant species on riparian plant assemblages: interactions with elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrogen deposition. Oecologia 152:791803 Google ScholarPubMed
Bunn, SE, Davies, PM, Kellaway, DM, Prosser, IP (1998) Influence of invasive macrophytes on channel morphology and hydrology in an open tropical lowland stream, and potential control by riparian shading. Freshw Biol 39:171178 Google Scholar
Casanova, MT, Brock, MA (2000) How do depth, duration and frequency of flooding influence the establishment of wetland plant communities? Plant Ecol 147:237250 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
César de Sá, N, Marchante, H, Marchante, E, Cabral, JA, Honrado, JP, Vicente, JR (2019) Can citizen science data guide the surveillance of invasive plants? A model-based test with Acacia trees in Portugal. Biol Invasions 21:21272141 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, RM, Meyerson, LA, Saltonstall, K (1999) Expansion of Phragmites australis into tidal wetlands of North America. Aquat Bot 64:261273 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christen, D, Matlack, G (2006) The role of roadsides in plant invasions: a demographic approach. Conserv Biol 20:385391 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christen, DC, Matlack, GR (2009) The habitat and conduit functions of roads in the spread of three invasive plant species. Biol Invasions 11:453465 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crall, AW, Jarnevich, CS, Young, NE, Panke, BJ, Renz, M, Stohlgren, TJ (2015) Citizen science contributes to our knowledge of invasive plant species distributions. Biol Invasions 17:24152427 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crall, AW, Jordan, R, Holfelder, K, Newman, GJ, Graham, J, Waller, DM (2013) The impacts of an invasive species citizen science training program on participant attitudes, behavior, and science literacy. Public Underst Sci 22:745764 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crall, AW, Newman, GJ, Stohlgren, TJ, Holfelder, KA, Graham, J, Waller, DM (2011) Assessing citizen science data quality: an invasive species case study. Conserv Lett 4:433442 Google Scholar
Cummins, KW, Wilzbach, MA, Gates, DM, Perry, JB, Taliaferro, WB (1989) Shredders and riparian vegetation: leaf litter that falls into streams influences communities of stream invertebrates. BioScience 39:2430 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daru, BH, Davies, TJ, Willis, CG, Meineke, EK, Ronk, A, Zobel, M, Pärtel, M, Antonelli, A, Davis, CC (2021) Widespread homogenization of plant communities in the Anthropocene. Nat Commun 12:6983 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, HR, Smoliga, JA, Feldman, BA (2012) Notes on the geology of the Shawangunk Ridge on the Mohonk Preserve and environs. Northeast Nat 19:312 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, RE, Žemaitė, I, Miller-Rushing, AJ (2018) How training citizen scientists affects the accuracy and precision of phenological data. Int J Biometeorol 62:14211435 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitch, GM, Craver, VO, Smith, JA (2008) Recycling of Salt-Contaminated Stormwater Runoff for Brine Production at Virginia Department of Transportation Road-Salt Storage Facilities. Charlottesville: Virginia Transportation Research Council. 26 pGoogle Scholar
Forcella, F, Harvey, SJ (1983) Eurasian weed infestation in western Montana in relation to vegetation and disturbance. Madroño 30:102109 Google Scholar
Fox, J, Weisberg, S (2019) An R Companion to Applied Regression. 3 rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 608 pGoogle Scholar
Fuccillo, KK, Crimmins, TM, de Rivera, CE, Elder, TS (2015) Assessing accuracy in citizen science-based plant phenology monitoring. Int J Biometeorol 59:917926 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallo, T, Waitt, D (2011) Creating a successful citizen science model to detect and report invasive species. BioScience 61:459465 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garretson, A, Napoli, M, Feldsine, N, Adler-Colvin, P, Long, E (2020) Vernal pool amphibian breeding ecology monitoring from 1931 to present: a armonized historical and ongoing observational ecology dataset. Biodivers Data J 8:e50121 Google Scholar
Gregory, SV, Swanson, FJ, McKee, WA, Cummins, KW (1991) An ecosystem perspective of riparian zones. BioScience 41:540551 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groffman, PM, Bain, DJ, Band, LE, Belt, KT, Brush, GS, Grove, JM, Pouyat, RV, Yesilonis, IC, Zipperer, WC (2003) Down by the riverside: urban riparian ecology. Front Ecol Environ 1:315321 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Häkkinen, H, Hodgson, D, Early, R (2022) Plant naturalizations are constrained by temperature but released by precipitation. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 31:501514 Google Scholar
Hancock, CN, Ladd, PG, Froend, RH (1996) Biodiversity and management of riparian vegetation in Western Australia. For Ecol Manag 85:239250 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, MJ, Clevenger, AP (2005) The influence of disturbance and habitat on the presence of non-native plant species along transport corridors. Biol Conserv 125:249259 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickman, JC (2012) The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. 2 nd Printing edition. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1424 pGoogle Scholar
Hobbs, RJ (2000) Invasive Species in a Changing World. Washington, DC: Island Press. 480 pGoogle Scholar
Hochmair, HH, Scheffrahn, RH, Basille, M, Boone, M (2020) Evaluating the data quality of iNaturalist termite records. PloS ONE 15:e0226534 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Homer, C, Dewitz, J, Yang, L, Jin, S, Danielson, P, Xian, G, Coulston, J, Herold, N, Wickham, J, Megown, K (2015) Completion of the 2011 National Land Cover Database for the conterminous United States–representing a decade of land cover change information. Photogramm Eng Remote Sens 81:345354 Google Scholar
Hood, WG, Naiman, RJ (2000) Vulnerability of riparian zones to invasion by exotic vascular plants. Plant Ecol 148:105114 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horton, JL, Neufeld, HS (1998) Photosynthetic responses of Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus, a shade-tolerant, C4 grass, to variable light environments. Oecologia 114:1119 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, GL, Almquist-Jacobson, H, Chris Winne, J (1991) Conservation of rare plant habitat: insights from the recent history of vegetation and fire at Crystal Fen, northern Maine, USA. Biol Conserv 57:287314 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansson, R, Nilsson, C, Dynesius, M, Andersson, E (2000) Effects of river regulation on river-margin vegetation: a comparison of eight boreal rivers. Ecol Appl 10:203224 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarnevich, CS, Stohlgren, TJ, Barnett, D, Kartesz, J (2006) Filling in the gaps: modelling native species richness and invasions using spatially incomplete data. Divers Distrib 12:511520 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, C, Lawton, J, Shachak, M (1997) Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78:19461957 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jorgensen, A, Sorrell, BK, Eller, F (2020) Carbon assimilation through a vertical light gradient in the canopy of invasive herbs grown under different temperature regimes is determined by leaf and whole-plant architecture. AoB PLANTS 12:plaa031 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kallimanis, AS, Panitsa, M, Dimopoulos, P (2017) Quality of non-expert citizen science data collected for habitat type conservation status assessment in Natura 2000 protected areas. Sci Rep 7:8873 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kathe, J, Feldsine, N (2017) StreamWatch: A Citizen Science Based Approach to Assessing Stream Water Quality in the Kleine Kill and Coxing Kill Watersheds. Oral Presentation. State University at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY. May 3, 2017Google Scholar
Kauffman, JB, Beschta, RL, Otting, N, Lytjen, D (1997) An ecological perspective of riparian and stream restoration in the western United States. Fisheries 22:1224 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, WR, Panno, SV, Hackley, KC (2012) Impacts of road salt runoff on water quality of the Chicago, Illinois, Region. Environ Eng Geosci 18:6581 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendig, AE, Canavan, S, Anderson, PJ, Flory, SL, Gettys, LA, Gordon, DR, Iannone, BV III, Kunzer, JM, Petri, T, Pfingsten, IA, Lieurance, D (2022) Scanning the horizon for invasive plant threats using a data-driven approach. NeoBiota 74:129154 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klimeš, A, Šímová, I, Zizka, A, Antonelli, A, Herben, T (2022) The ecological drivers of growth form evolution in flowering plants. J Ecol 110:15251536 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lecerf, A, Patfield, D, Boiché, A, Riipinen, MP, Chauvet, E, Dobson, M (2007) Stream ecosystems respond to riparian invasion by Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica). Can J Fish Aquat Sci 64:12731283 Google Scholar
Leeuwen, CHA van, Sarneel, JM, Paassen, J van, Rip, WJ, Bakker, ES (2014) Hydrology, shore morphology and species traits affect seed dispersal, germination and community assembly in shoreline plant communities. J Ecol 102:9981007 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichvar, RW, Butterwick, M, Melvin, NC, Kirchner, WN (2014) The National Wetland Plant List: 2014 update of wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 41:142 Google Scholar
Lukyanenko, R, Parsons, J, Wiersma, YF (2016) Emerging problems of data quality in citizen science. Conserv Biol 30:447449 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maskell, LC, Bullock, JM, Smart, SM, Thompson, K, Hulme, PE (2006) The distribution and habitat associations of non-native plant species in urban riparian habitats. J Veg Sci 17:499508 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohonk Preserve, Feldsine NA, Garretson, AC, Kathe, JJ, Long, EC, Montoya, AJ, Napoli, MM, Wander, H, Science Volunteers, Citizen (2020) Mohonk Preserve Stream Water Quality Invasive Species and Macroinvertebrate Sampling in from 2017-Present. Environmental Data Initiative https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a00ff0a44f3305f17c99d87e6a0f29fd. Accessed: December 1, 2021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortensen, DA, Rauschert, ESJ, Nord, AN, Jones, BP (2009) Forest roads facilitate the spread of invasive plants. Invasive Plant Sci Manag 2:191199 Google Scholar
Naiman, RJ, Décamps, H (1997) The ecology of interfaces: riparian zones. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 28:621658 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naiman, RJ, Decamps, H, Pollock, M (1993) The role of riparian corridors in maintaining regional biodiversity. Ecol Appl Publ Ecol Soc Am 3:209212 Google ScholarPubMed
Nilsson, C, Svedmark, M (2002) Basic principles and ecological consequences of changing water regimes: riparian plant communities. Environ Manag 30:468480 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parendes, L, Jones, J (2000) Role of light availability and dispersal in exotic plant invasion along roads and streams in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon. Conserv Biol J Soc Conserv Biol 14:6475 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patten, DT (1998) Riparian ecosystems of semi-arid North America: diversity and human impacts. Wetlands 18:498512 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pauchard, A, Alaback, PB (2004) Influence of elevation, land use, and landscape context on patterns of alien plant invasions along roadsides in protected areas of south-central Chile. Conserv Biol 18:238248 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pauchard, A, Kueffer, C, Dietz, H, Daehler, CC, Alexander, J, Edwards, PJ, Arévalo, JR, Cavieres, LA, Guisan, A, Haider, S, Jakobs, G, McDougall, K, Millar, CI, Naylor, BJ, Parks, CG, et al. (2009) Ain’t no mountain high enough: plant invasions reaching new elevations. Front Ecol Environ 7:479486 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, MJ, Meyer, JL (2001) Streams in the urban landscape. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 32:333365 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterjohn, WT, Correll, DL (1984) Nutrient dynamics in an agricultural watershed: observations on the role of a riparian forest. Ecology 65:14661475 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pyšek, P, Prach, K (1993) Plant invasions and the role of riparian habitats: a comparison of four species alien to central Europe. J Biogeogr 20:413 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team (2016) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing Google Scholar
Reed, G (2017) StreamWatch helps protect Hudson’s headwaters. Poughkeepsie Journal, July 14, 2017Google Scholar
Rentch, JS, Fortney, RH, Stephenson, SL, Adams, HS, Grafton, WN, Anderson, JT (2005) Vegetation-site relationships of roadside plant communities in West Virginia, USA. J Appl Ecol 42:129138 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, DM, Holmes, PM, Esler, KJ, Galatowitsch, SM, Stromberg, J, Kirkman, SP, Pyšek, P, Hobbs, RJ (2007) Riparian vegetation: degradation, alien plant invasions, and restoration prospects. Divers Distrib 13:126139 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ries, KG III, Guthrie, JG, Rea, AH, Steeves, PA, Stewart, DW (2008) StreamStats: A Water Resources Web Application. Fact Sheet 2008-3067. Baltimore, MD: U.S. Geological Survey. 6 pGoogle Scholar
Rood, SB, Heinze-Milne, S (2011) Abrupt downstream forest decline following river damming in southern Alberta. Can J Bot 67:17441749 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabo, J, Sponseller, R, Dixon, M, Gade, K, Harms, T, Heffernan, J, Jani, A, Katz, G, Soykan, C, Watts, J, Welter, J (2005) Riparian zones increase regional species richness by harboring different, not more, species. Ecology 86:5662 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, K, Makowski, D, Werf, W van der (2021) Predicting hotspots for invasive species introduction in Europe. Environ Res Lett 16:114026 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seebens, H, Kaplan, E (2022) DASCO: a workflow to downscale alien species checklists using occurrence records and to re-allocate species distributions across realms. NeoBiota 74:7591 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shafroth, PB, Briggs, MK (2008) Restoration ecology and invasive riparian plants: an introduction to the special section on Tamarix spp. In western North America. Restor Ecol 16:9496 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soomers, H, Winkel, DN, Du, Y, Wassen, MJ (2010) The dispersal and deposition of hydrochorous plant seeds in drainage ditches. Freshw Biol 55:20322046 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stohlgren, TJ (2006) Measuring Plant Diversity: Lessons from the Field. New York: Oxford University Press. 408 pCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theobald, EJ, Ettinger, AK, Burgess, HK, DeBey, LB, Schmidt, NR, Froehlich, HE, Wagner, C, HilleRisLambers, J, Tewksbury, J, Harsch, MA, Parrish, JK (2015) Global change and local solutions: tapping the unrealized potential of citizen science for biodiversity research. Biol Conserv 181:236244 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tickner, DP, Angold, PG, Gurnell, AM, Mountford, JO (2001) Riparian plant invasions: hydrogeomorphological control and ecological impacts. Prog Phys Geogr Earth Environ 25:2252 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulloch, AIT, Possingham, HP, Joseph, LN, Szabo, J, Martin, TG (2013) Realising the full potential of citizen science monitoring programs. Biol Conserv 165:128138 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ture, C, Bingol, NA, Middleton, BA (2004) Characterization of the habitat of Lythrum salicaria L. in floodplain forests in western Turkey—effects on stem height and seed production. Wetlands 24:711716 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[USDA-NRCS] U.S. Department of Agriculture–Natural Resources Conservation Service (2020) The PLANTS Database. Greensboro, NC: National Plant Data TeamGoogle Scholar
Walsh, CJ, Roy, AH, Feminella, JW, Cottingham, PD, Groffman, PM, Morgan, RP (2005) The urban stream syndrome: current knowledge and the search for a cure. J North Am Benthol Soc 24:706723 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weihe, PE, Neely, RK (1997) The effects of shading on competition between purple loosestrife and broad-leaved cattail. Aquat Bot 59:127138 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, JB, Rapson, GL, Sykes, MT, Watkins, AJ, Williams, PA (1992) Distributions and climatic correlations of some exotic species along roadsides in South Island, New Zealand. J Biogeogr 19:183193 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J, Dilts, TE, Condon, LA, Turner, PL, Weisberg, PJ (2011) Longitudinal- and transverse-scale environmental influences on riparian vegetation across multiple levels of ecological organization. Landsc Ecol 26:381395 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, AM, van Mantgem, EF, Garretson, A, Noel, C, Morelli, TL (2021) Translational science education through citizen science. Front Environ Sci 9:604 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zedler, JB, Kercher, S (2004) Causes and consequences of invasive plants in wetlands: opportunities, opportunists, and outcomes. Crit Rev Plant Sci 23:431452 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, J, Li, S, Farnsworth, A, Valdes, PJ, Reichgelt, T, Chen, L, Zhou, Z, Su, T (2022) The Paleogene to Neogene climate evolution and driving factors on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Sci China Earth Sci 65:13391352 Google Scholar