Predicting Invasion Rates for Phragmites australis

Authors

Rachel Nydegger, Utah State UniversityFollow
Jacob Duncan, Utah State UniversityFollow
James A. Powell, Utah State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2-19-2015

Journal/Book Title/Conference

USU College of Science ‘Science Unwrapped’

Abstract

In wetlands of Utah and southern Idaho as well as estuaries of the east coast, the ten-foot tall invasive grass Phragmites australis can be found near waterways, where it outcompetes native plants and degrades wildlife habitat. Phragmites australis is an obligate out-crossing plant that can spread sexually through seed disper- sal, or asexually via stolons and rhi- zomes (Kettenring and Mock 2012). Small patches are usually a single genetic individual, spreading vegetatively (and slowly) via runners; when patches become genetically diverse viable seeds are produced and invasion rates can be increase by an order of magnitude (Kettenring et al. 2011)

Comments

Poster presented at USU College of Science ‘Science Unwrapped’ February, 2015.

Recommended Citation

Nydegger, R., Duncan, J., & Powell, J. (2015, February). Predicting Invasion Rates for Phragmites australis. Presented at the USU College of Science “Science Unwrapped,” Utah State University, Logan, UT.