Effects and Restoration
Effects and Restoration
The USGS develops strategies and techniques to understand and facilitate restoration of native species and habitats affected by invasive species. This is critical because control without restoration can leave the ecosystem vulnerable to subsequent reinvasion by the same or additional invasive species.
Filter Total Items: 6
Sourcing plants for conservation and restoration: developing a risk assessment framework
Tallgrass prairie species are planted in a variety of settings for a variety of reasons. Much of the seed used for these plantings is produced commercially in agricultural-like conditions and can be contaminated by “weed seeds.” In this study, we are creating an analytical tool to assess the risk of inadvertently introducing weed seeds into a prairie planting. We purpose that increasing the...
Developing evaluation and monitoring frameworks for tallgrass prairie reconstruction
Thousands of hectares of retired farmland are planted with tallgrass prairie species each year. If the methods used and resulting characteristics of these prairies are recorded, compiled, and analyzed, they can provide a valuable resource for evaluating seed mixes, planting methods, and post-planting management. Toward this end, collaborators in the Prairie Reconstruction Initiative, funded by the...
Experimental suppression of invasive lake trout: Implications for conservation of imperiled bull trout in Glacier National Park
After 14,000 years of dominance, Glacier National Park’s (GNP) greatest native aquatic predator is at high risk of extirpation (local extinction) in several lakes on the western slopes of the Continental Divide. The decline of threatened bull trout in GNP is directly attributed to the invasion and establishment of nonnative lake trout, which consistently displace bull trout in systems where lake...
Restoring Rare Plants on Public Lands
Ecosystems throughout the U.S. face threats from invasive species and rapid changes to the environment. Dr. Kathryn McEachern is studying the long-term effects of invasive plants and animals, and environmental change on the survival and recovery of rare plants across the 18 California Islands and in the Great Lakes.
Restoration Ecology
Restoration of ecological systems in wildland areas often involves restoring species to habitats degraded by invasive plant and animal species. Often, such invasive species exert community level impacts, such as direct competition, but may also alter ecosystem function. For example, invasive plants have been documented to alter fire regimes, soil nutrients and microbes, food webs, and/or...
Evaluating the reintroduction potential and limiting factors associated with anadromous fish reintroductions in the Upper Lewis River, WA
Hydropower facilities on the Lewis River, WA eliminated historic runs of anadromous species to the headwaters of the Lewis River. As anadromous reintroductions are considered and implemented, there remains considerable uncertainty in the viability of reintroductions in reservoir and tributary systems where large populations of non-native species persist and where spawning and rearing habitat may...