Cattail invasion of sedge meadows following hydrologic disturbance in the Cowles Bog Wetland Complex, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Abstract

As a result of water-level regulation, cattails have invaded sedge/grass meadow in all wetlands on Lake Ontario. Even with a change in water-level-regulation to a more natural hydrologic regime, restoration requires methods for active cattail management without the ability to manipulate water depths and without imperiling other vegetation. We conducted replicated studies at a wetland site with an active invasion front in zones of nearly mono-dominant cattail and transitional invasion. We tested various combinations of cutting cattail ramets when carbohydrate reserves were minimized, spraying cut stems with herbicide, slicing rhizomes to mimic tilling, and hand-wicking resprouted ramets with herbicide. We also collected companion environmental data. The most effective treatment in both zones was cutting during the period with reduced rhizome carbohydrates followed by handwicking resprouted ramets with herbicide in late summer, which allows the herbicide to be absorbed by the rhizomes. Two years of treatment provide the best results, reducing cattail stem counts and cover by more than 50%, but follow-up applications in ensuing years may be warranted to treat surviving cattails. Given the widespread problem of cattail invasion, these treatments may have broad application in wetlands where water levels cannot be manipulated.

Long-term monitoring of an invasion process: the case of an isolated small wetland on a Mediterranean Island

“…After a first phase dominated by T. latifolia and T. angustifolia follows the arrival of P. australis that tends to becomes dominant. How the shift of the lake to more terrestrial conditions had work is unknown but we can assume that the first arrival of the two cattails could have determine higher rates of evaporation faciliting its spread and the stabilization of P. australis as already observed by Wilcox et al (1985) and Choi & Bury (2003). This process lead to the "terrestrialization" of the lake, process signed by the presences of several species not related to aquatic condictions.…”

“…Once started, the invasion of the lake proceeded very rapidly, especially in the initial phases, aided by the facilitation effect that the old individuals of cattail exert on the young plants (see also Callaway & King 1996). Invasion of these great helophytes has been reported several times in freshwater wetlands in North America (Wilcox et al 1985;Galatowitsh et al 1999;Rice et al 2000;Choi & Bury 2003;Chun & Choi 2009) where in addition to T. latifolia and T. angustifolia, the hybrid between the two, T. × glauca, was reported. These species were reported as "weedy" invasive species (Haslam 1971;Gleason & Cronquist 1991).…”

Partitioning Vegetation Response to Anthropogenic Stress to Develop Multi‐taxa Wetland Indicators

“…Paradoxically, another common invasive, Lythrum salicaria (LYSA2), did not respond independently to CSI or HMI despite its dominance of the seed bank (Johnson 2003, Frieswyk and and reports that it increased with disturbance in Great Lakes coastal wetlands Wolf 2005, Stanley et al 2005). We also expected that the cover of Carex species would decrease in response to land use intensification (Galatowitsch et al 2000), grazing (Middleton 2002), sedimentation (Werner and Zedler 2002), nutrient inputs (Woo and Zedler 2002), and invasion by TYinv and PHAR3 (Wilcox et al 1985). Four of the five Carex species that were incorporated into the final models did decrease with increasing CSI, but C. lacustris (CALA16) unexpectedly increased with increas-PLATE 1.…”

“…The tussock growth habit of CAST8 allows it to tolerate a broad range of seasonal drying and flooding conditions (Costello 1936, Sjo¨berg and Danell 1983, Wilcox et al 1985, and water fluctuation at some time during the growing season benefits CAST8 growth (Budelsky and Galatowitsch 2004). Both CAST8 and CIBU increased in abundance when flooded by an adjacent power plant cooling pond (Ellison and Bedford 1995).…”

Replacing natural wetlands with stormwater management facilities: Biophysical and perceived social values

“…Whereas stormwater management facilities are typically weir-controlled and possibly over-117 stabilized leading to altered vegetation (Wilcox et al, 1985), natural wetlands experience …”