Tag: invasive species

21 Mar 2020

Lesser Celandine….Smotherer of Native Plants

Lesser Celandine….Smotherer of Native Plants

Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) is a broadleaf plant with a yellow flower, which is native to Europe and Western Asia. In North America it is considered to be a highly invasive plant. You can find it growing in 21 of the lower 48 states, and in southern parts of Canada.

Lesser celandine produces both seeds and bulbils. This type of reproduction strategy causes it to be highly invasive, and allows it to spread like wildfire. The three easiest and fastest ways it spreads are water ways, boots of hikers, and hooves of ungulates. The spread of lesser celandine begins to create dense green carpets in our woods and lawns. Studies have shown that these “carpets” inhibit native wildflowers and other plants from finishing their life cycles. When these native wildflowers and plants cannot finish their life cycles, pollinators are losing their sources of nectar and mammals are losing food sources. Can the mammals just eat the celandine instead? Unfortunately no, because lesser celandine has compounds that make it taste bitter and possibly toxic to mammals. These are just a few out of many ecological impacts that are the driving forces to research ways to eradicate lesser celandine from our woods and lawns.

We are starting a research project in early 2020 to test eradication methods of lesser celandine. We will be testing the effects of hand removal, and two types of herbicides: glyphosate and metsulfuron. We will measure cover of celandine and count other species pre and post treatment. This study will likely be a multiple year study because other data shows lesser celandine needs multiple rounds of treatments to eliminate it.

Below are photos of lesser celandine before and after it flowers, and the dense carpet it creates.

–Chad G.

pre-flower stage
flowering stage
15 Sep 2019

Can Livestock Control Invasive Species (Initial Results)

Can Livestock Control Invasive Species (Initial Results)

We have been researching honeysuckle and other invasive plant removal techniques to rid our property of these species.  In 2017, we began studying a biological control method of removal using our woodland raised hogs.  Hogs have a natural tendency to uproot vegetation for food, so we thought they would be perfect for the job. We set up 3 research areas: one control (1/2 acre) and two treatments (1/2 acre and 1 acre “A”). The hogs rotate through the treatment areas every other year.  The one acre treatment had hogs in 2017 and again in 2019.  One month after the hogs were removed from the treatment area, we collected vegetation data by randomly placing 1 m2 plots in the areas and counting species.

We calculated species richness (number of different species) and species diversity.   Each year, treatment areas had a higher species richness compared to the control area (see Figure 1). To calculate species diversity we used the Simpson’s Diversity Index. The treatment areas, when compared to the control areas, have a higher diversity each year (See Figure 2).  We are further looking at these data to analyze how the hogs have impacted invasive plants. Our data will be shared with our livestock crew to inform future hog management decisions.

–Chad G.

01 May 2019

Where the Wildflowers are…

Where the Wildflowers are…

Being in the woods daily has given me a perspective on spring ephemerals that I have not experienced before.  In the past, I would generally hike in the woods around April and “see what was blooming”.  This year, I watched leaves emerge from the ground and in some cases knew exactly what flower was coming, but in other cases I had to wait several weeks for a flower in order to identify the species.   The mottled waterleaf leaves emerged early but I saw no blooms until May. In some cases, I was waiting for a bloom that did not arrive (wild leeks- thank you Team Nature for that tip).  Mayapple poked up its stems over the course of one weekend and I missed the bloodroot flowers completely.  But now I have a better sense of what wildflowers are on the property and where they are blooming.

–Jennifer

Yellow trout lily blooming amid the invasive lesser celandine.