Warming
climate puts wetlands more at risk to invasive species
From: Duke
University via EurekAlert.
In the battle between native and invasive wetland plants, a new
Duke University study finds climate change may tip the scales in favor of the
invaders -- but it's going to be more a war of attrition than a frontal
assault.
"Changing surface-water temperatures, rainfall patterns and
river flows will likely give Japanese knotweed, hydrilla, honeysuckle, privet
and other noxious invasive species an edge over less adaptable native
species," said Neal E. Flanagan, visiting assistant professor at the Duke
Wetland Center, who led the research.
Increased human disturbances to watersheds and nutrient and
sediment runoff into riparian wetlands over the coming century will further
boost the invasive species' advantage, the study found.
"It's death by a thousand small cuts. Each change, on its own, may yield only a slight advantage for invasive species, but cumulatively they add up," said co-author Curtis J. Richardson, director of the Duke Wetland Center and professor of resource ecology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
If left unchecked, over time these change will reduce the
diversity of plants found in many wetlands and could affect the wetlands'
ability to mitigate flooding, store carbon, filter out water pollution and
provide habitat for native wildlife, the authors said.
The scientists published their peer-reviewed findings this week in
the journal Ecological Applications.
The study, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), is the first large-scale field experiment to simulate how future
environmental changes linked to global warming and land-use change will affect
plant communities in major river systems in the U.S. Southeast.
Read more at EurekAlert.