Removing invading plants can harm native ecology

Posted on April 15, 2011 by kightp

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The removal of invasive beach grasses on the Oregon coast to improve nesting habitat for the western snowy plover, a threatened shorebird, can harm non-target, native plant species and dune ecosystems, an Oregon Sea Grant-supported study shows.

The findings, published by researchers from Oregon State University in Ecosphere, a professional journal, suggest that restoration projects to aid a threatened species should also consider the broader ecosystem in which it lives.

“By just targeting one species, you’re not reestablishing the ecosystem function and allowing the other native species that are also in decline to recover,” said Sally Hacker, an OSU associate professor of zoology. “We looked at the whole process to see if there were ways to help restore things to benefit the plover as well as other species.”

The western snowy plover, a small, open-ground nesting shorebird that prefers bare or sparsely-vegetated, low, sandy dunes, was listed as a threatened species in the early 1990s after populations in Oregon declined to only about 28 surviving individuals.

The listing triggered protection and monitoring, including restoration sites on public land along the Pacific coast. Bulldozers and other mechanical and hand methods were used to remove two invasive beach grass species, Ammophila arenaria and Ammophila breviligulata. These grasses make it difficult for the plover to nest, see predators, and access the open beaches to feed.

The non-native grasses had been introduced in Oregon in the late 1800s and early 1900s to stabilize beach sand that was inundating coastal roadways and homes, and create foredunes to protect properties from winter storm surges.

But the introduced grasses transformed vast stretches of what was once dynamic beach dunes populated by low-growing native plants into dense, static monocultures of the bristly beach grass. The invasive grasses shade out low-growing native plants and have caused continuous foredunes to form at heights of as much as 45 feet.

With support from Oregon Sea Grant, Hacker and Eric Seabloom, a former OSU professor, and doctoral candidate Phoebe Zarnetske, studied 10 of the plover restoration sites.

OSG experts featured on invasive species program

Posted on February 23, 2011 by kightp

Oregon Sea Grant’s Sam Chan and Tania Siemens are featured in “Crayfish Invasion,” a recent episode of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s award-winning Oregon Field Guide program.

First aired on Feb. 17, the episode recounts how innocent elementary-school science projects have brought highly invasive crayfish into Oregon’s rivers and streams. Shipped to teachers for biology classes and then “set free” by well-meaning children or teachers, the animals spread quickly in the wild, out-competing native species. According to the series, shipments of live classroom specimens violates state wildlife laws but state authorities have chosen not to aggressively enforce the ban.

Chan, Oregon Sea Grant’s invasive species expert, and research assistant Siemens have been working with Oregon teachers to increase awareness of invasive species and enlist them and their classrooms in the fight to halt the spread of invaders in the marine environment. With the help of k-12 teachers and students, they are developing teacher toolkits with lesson plans, activities and other resources for teaching young people about the subject.

View video on the Oregon Field Guide site.

New publications available from Oregon Sea Grant

Posted on February 16, 2011 by newberrc

The following publications are available from http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/newpubs.html

A Primer on Wave Energy Devices

GardenSmart Oregon: a guide to non-invasive plants [2010 rev.]

The Framework of a Coastal Hazards Model–A Tool for Predicting the Impact of Severe Storms

Oregon Sea Grant to lead regional invasive species effort

Posted on December 2, 2010 by kightp

Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant Extension’s aquatic invasive species educator, will lead a two year, $416,000 effort to combat high-priority aquatic invasive species identified by natural resource managers in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Dec. 1.

Chan’s team at Oregon State University will work with Sea Grant programs and others throughout the region to develop a method to better predict the risk of aquatic invasive species and better understand the economic value of early detection and rapid response.

These programs will also develop strategies for managing the risk of non-native mussels invading West Coast waters through long-distance water tunnels and will investigate school classrooms as a potential source of new invasions (via educational aquariums).

Scientists conduct rapid assessment survey of Oregon estuaries

Posted on October 26, 2010 by kightp

D. vexillum

NEWPORT, Ore. – Scientists from the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia are conducting a “rapid assessment survey” of three Oregon estuaries, looking for invasive species such as the marine tunicate, Didemnum vexillum, found earlier this year in Coos Bay and Winchester Bay.

These scientists spent a week surveying the estuaries before for the annual conference of the International North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), meeting in Portland through Oct. 31.

Nations hosting the conference also host cooperative on-site surveys for introduced species, conducted by scientists from participating countries, according to George Boehlert, director of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and one of two United States members on the PICES governing board.

“It provides an opportunity to train scientists on surveying techniques, assess local estuaries for potential problems, and share information on common invasive species,” Boehlert said. “Many of the non-indigenous species on the West Coast originated in Asia, so the opportunity to work with scientists from Japan, Russia and elsewhere is highly beneficial.”

OSU scientist John Chapman, an aquatic invasive species specialist at the university’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), and Thomas Therriault of Fisheries and Oceans in Nanaimo, British Columbia, coordinated the Oct. 17-21 surveys, which looked at Yaquina Bay in Newport; Winchester Bay near Reedsport; Coos Bay; and a 300,000-gallon seawater tank at the HMSC.

Funding for the project is provided by PICES through a contribution from the Japanese government, which has granted $500,000 to the organization for studies on invasive species and harmful algal blooms. Additional support is being provided by Oregon Sea Grant.

Fast-growing marine invasive found in Oregon waters

Posted on May 14, 2010 by kightp

An aggressive, invasive aquatic organism that is on the state’s most dangerous species list has been discovered in both Winchester Bay and Coos Bay, and scientists say this “colonial tunicate” – Didemnum vexillum – has serious economic and environmental implications.

Its propensity to foul surfaces of boats, fishing nets, water intakes, docks and buoys could make it costly to control, and its ability to smother shellfish beds and sensitive marine environments threatens other marine life.

“This is not a welcome addition to our bays and now the clock is ticking,” said Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant’s invasive species specialist at Oregon State University and chair of the Oregon Invasive Species Council. “The fouling potential from tunicate invasions can be severe, given its ability to reproduce asexually by budding, or breaking off as fragments, and through sexual reproduction where tadpoles emerge, swim and attach themselves to surfaces to form new colonies.”

The Didemnum invertebrates were first discovered earlier this year in Winchester Bay, and later in Coos Bay. They are native to Japan and can live from the estuary to the continental shelf. In calm water, colonies may grow in long, beard-like expanses on substrates such as docks, mooring lines, boat hulls and aquaculture infrastructure.

In faster currents, Didemnum forms low, undulating mats overgrowing seabeds of pebbles, boulders and jetty rock. The organisms will grow over, and choke clams, oysters, mussels, anemones and other marine creatures by covering their feeding siphons, and can serve as a barrier between bottom-feeding fish and their prey.
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National program offers grants for aquaculture, invasives research

Posted on April 15, 2010 by kightp

NOAA Sea Grant is offering grants totalling $12.8 million to coordinated research, outreach and education programs designed to create sustainable aquaculture projects and limit the regional spread of invasive species.

Approximately half of the funds are devoted to a broad national aquaculture competition open to institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, commercial organizations, state, local and Indian tribal governments and individuals. Dubbed the NOAA Sea Grant Aquaculture Research Program 2010, the competition is aimed at funding economically and environmentally sustainable aquaculture projects across the country in 2010-2011.

The remaining two grants are open to research, outreach and education teams affiliated with one or more of the 30 National Sea Grant College Programs located in US coastal and Great Lakes states (as well as the US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico). One program will offer up to $4.8 million in grants to help support state and regional aquaculture through outreach and technology transfer; the other devotes $2 million to regional-scale efforts to address marine invasive species issues.

Each of the three grant programs depends on the availability of federal funding. Proposals must be submitted through grants.gov, and application deadlines are in May.

For more information visit the NOAA Sea Grant Web site.

Squid invasion! speaker at HMSC

Posted on March 8, 2010 by kightp

Squid necropsy at HMSC

An expert on the Humboldt squid will give a free, public talk on these large marine predators – which have shown up in Pacific Northwest waters in unprecedented numbers over the past year – this Wednesday night at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport

Humboldt or jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas, are most commonly found at depths of 200–700 metres (660–2,300 ft) in the central to south Pacific, from Tierra del Fuego to California. Since the late 1990s the squid have been expanding their range, making their way in increasing numbers as far north as offshore Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. With the expansion has come increased interaction with humans, mainly divers and fishermen.

Professor William F. Gilly of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station visits the HMSC Visitor Center Wednesday, March 10, to discuss the behavior, physiology and ecology of Dosidicus gigas. The public presentation starts at 7 pm in the Hennings Auditorium. There is no admission charge, although donations to the support the center’s public marine education programs are encouraged.

Although reasons for the Humboldt squid’s sudden range expansion during the last decade remain mysterious, recent studies shed light on the ecology, physiology and behavior of these large predators. They are abundant, fast-growing, short-lived, and extremely prolific. Their diet ranges from small, midwater organisms to large fish. They are powerful swimmers capable of rapid vertical and horizontal migrations. They are tolerant of environmental features, particularly temperature and oxygen. They have large brains and complex behaviors. Scientists have suggested that if one wanted to design a top predator equipped to cope with climate change, the Humbold squid might be it.

(Professor Gilly’s lab has resources for teachers, parents and students at Squids For Kids)

Chinese visit Oregon to discuss marine invasives

Posted on October 5, 2009 by kightp

Spartina_alterniflora Representatives from China’s Fujian Academy of Science-Forestry-Institute of Ecology and Environment are visiting Oregon this week to confer with an Oregon Sea Grant specialist on methods of fighting the spread of an invasive grass species.

The grass, Spartina alterniflora (also known as cordgrass), is native to the east coast of North America. The grass was introduced into a Fujian estuary in 1982 and has spread rapidly. Spartina invasions have also occurred on the west coast of the U.S. In China, the fast-spreading grass threatens the survival of native mangrove forests.

In 2007 Oregon Sea Grant Extension agent Sam Chan and a team of researchers, educators, and resource managers from Oregon, Washington and Florida visited Fujian, a province about half the size of Oregon, on the southeastern coast of China. This week, the Chinese team is visiting OSU.

Breaking Waves

Oregon Sea Grant: Coastal science serving Oregon

Category Archives: invasive species