Transcript Restoration Ecology and Invasive Species

ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION AND
INVASIVE SPECIES
Lauren S. Pile Spring 2011 Ecological Restoration
PROBLEMS RELATED TO INVASIVE SPECIES
AND
RESTORATION
Invasive 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 predisturbance 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
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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)

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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.”
WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/aliens.htm
This is an
educational
website by
the Wisconsin
Department
of Natural
Resources for
children
identify alien
species
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
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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
Invasive species are
natural
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

Invasive species require
management

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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
REPLACING FEAR WITH RESTORATION

Restorationists may not seem fearful about invasives
because they have greater fears:
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The language of restoration is more positive and
effectively communicates the importance of
restoration endeavors
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Ecological, functional, humanistic, integrative
Invasive species management becomes a stepping
stone to achieving broader goals and values
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Land fragmentation, development, fire suppression, illegal
plant collection
“… 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 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
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
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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
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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
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Camels, lions, elephants
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF INVASIVE SPECIES WITH
CLIMATE CHANGE: A RESTORATION
OPPORTUNITY
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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
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“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
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WORKS CITED
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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. Nonindigenous 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.