ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION AND INVASIVE SPECIESLauren S. Pile Spring 2011 Ecological Restoration

PROBLEMS RELATED TO INVASIVE SPECIES AND RESTORATIONInvasive species: Maybe the first to re-colonize after disturbances

associated with removal Presence or dominance maybe part of the site

condition leading to the need for restoration Maybe the first to colonize after a planned

disturbance even if they were not in the pre-disturbance community

May leave a long-term legacy after removal making restoration of the site difficult or can challenge management goals

Societal perceptions What are they? Why do we care? What do we do? Isn’t the

problem bigger than we can control? When do we give up?

INVASIVE SPECIES, CULTURE, AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION

The fear of the invasive! – the sensationalism of environmentalism and the call to action

Xenophobia Scientific fact versus personal judgment Conflicting viewpoints on what is natural and

what should be restored Replacing fear with restoration Non-native ecological replacements and

restoration Invasive species and climate change

FEAR OF THE INVASIVE Scientific terminology is heavily loaded with negative

connotations towards invasive species Fear is used to give a sense of urgency spur people

into action Fear maybe used to further establish the field of

invasion ecology in the eyes of the public and scientific community

Contributes to the growing culture of fear “Scientists and the U.S. Government must work together to

implement a comprehensive approach to biosecurity that addresses not only bioterrorism, but also the more common incursions of invasive alien species. This approach should also address the potential for the deliberate use of invasive alien species as agents of bioterrorism.”

~ Bioinvasions, bioterrorism, and biosecurity (Laura Meyerson & Jamie Reaser 2003)

XENOPHOBIA: FEAR AND HATRED OF STRANGERS OR FOREIGNERS OR OF ANYTHING THAT IS STRANGE OR FOREIGN

Native plant societies and advocates have been equated to Nazi Germany Horticultural and landscape gardening policies of the

Third Reich were designed to purge German nature of any foreign influences

“Judging species according to their place of origin is tantamount to judging people by their religion, nationality, or skin color.” (Lugo 1992)

Environmental historians personify and nationalize invasive species (John McNeill) Boll weevil = “well-documented alien from Mexico” Fire ant = “fierce Brazilian” Gypsy moth = “unruly guest from France”

Debate over nomenclature Nonindigenous was received as the “most neutral,

inclusive, and unambiguous term.”

WISCO

NSIN

DEPARTM

ENT O

F NATU

RAL RESOU

RCES

This is an educational website by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for children identify alien species

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/aliens.htm

SCIENCE VERSUS JUDGMENT Sometimes value judgments are made by

scientists with no distinction between the changes in the natural world that they have documented and the judgments they make about the acceptability of such changes Scientists must be careful both in communicating

scientific knowledge and in making clear when value judgments are passed as scientific results

Any characterization that any and all nonindigenous species are good or bad is a value judgment, not science

CONFLICTING VIEW-POINTS ON RESTORATION AND INVASIVE SPECIES

Biological invasions are natural and necessary for the persistence of life

Extinctions and invasions have occurred long before humans existed

Species rates change even on the scale of years and decades

Species invasions are natural, but it is their current rate of occurrence and the distances they transverse that is the concern

“What is natural is morally acceptable” murder, auto accidents, and species extinctions are natural or normal, but they are clearly neither moral or acceptable

Invasive species are natural

Invasive species require management

REPLACING FEAR WITH RESTORATION Restorationists may not seem fearful about invasives

because they have greater fears: Land fragmentation, development, fire suppression, illegal

plant collection The language of restoration is more positive and

effectively communicates the importance of restoration endeavors Ecological, functional, humanistic, integrative

Invasive species management becomes a stepping stone to achieving broader goals and values “… an ecosystem would be restored, not a list of species

eliminated.” (Woodall 2000) Invasive species managers usually focus their efforts on

taking things out of the landscape, the end goal of restorationists is to make the landscape whole again by putting things back together

ACTIVE COM

MU

NITY

INVO

LVEMEN

T

Rather than feeling victimized by invasion and the fear generated from the losses that might result, active engagement can empower communities to work toward positive new trajectories

Embrace humans with nature instead of humans against nature

NON-NATIVE ECOLOGICAL REPLACEMENTS: TRANSLOCATIONS FOR ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION Translocation can compensate for a lack of dispersal

opportunities Translocation might be necessary where the original habitat

may have been extensively modified, and where restoration due to multiple factors is infeasible

Replace an extinct species with an appropriate analog species Replacement of extinct New Zealand quail with Australian brown

quail increases ecological restoration opportunities Analog species can replace the contribution that an extinct species

may have provided to ecological function May result in a more complete ecological restoration

Replacement with an analog species is unpredictable and have the same damaging impacts of other non-native species

“Rewilding” (Donlan 2005 & 2006) of North America with mega fauna replacements Camels, lions, elephants

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF INVASIVE SPECIES WITH CLIMATE CHANGE: A RESTORATION OPPORTUNITY Climate change may also affect the distribution of

non-native invasive species Invasive plants respond positively to disturbance and

some show enhanced competiveness in rising CO2 levels

However some may become less competitive in certain areas due to climate change RESTORATION OPPORTUNITIES

“Transformative” Restoration – in which novel species are introduced to replace invasive species Indigenous to the broader biome or ecoregion Non-invasive Capable of sustaining native fauna Well-suited to the new climate conditions

WORKS CITED Bradley, B.A. and D.S. Wilcove. 2009. When invasive plants

disappear:Transformative restoration possibilities in the western United States resulting from climate change. Restoration Ecology 17(5): 715-721.

Coates, P. 2006. American perceptions of immigrant and invasive species: Strangers on the land. University of California Press: Berkeley.

Lodge, D.M. and K. Shrader-Frechette. 2002. Non-indigenous species: Ecological explanation, environmental ethics, and public policy. Conservation Biology 17(1): 31-37.

Muphy, S.D. 2005. Concurrent management of exotic species and initial restoration efforts in forests. Restoration Ecology 13(4): 584-593.

Parker, K.A., Seabrook-Davidson, M. and J.G. Ewan. 2010. Opportunities for nonnative ecological replacements in ecosystem restoration. Restoration Ecology 18(3): 269-273.