[APWG] QUESTION Alien invasive species vs alien non-invasive species Plants Re: QUESTION: Escaped Miscanthus spp. in your area? (fwd)

[Wayne Tyson]

APWG and Dr. Quinn:

Noting that Dr. Quinn took care to use quotation marks to enclose "natural" 
areas (and even went on to give examples of "natural" areas "(e.g. 
roadsides, pastures, forest openings)," prompts me to ask whether or not 
there are any clear standards by which such "natural" areas are 
distinguished from natural (undisturbed?), and "invasive" from invasive 
(invading undisturbed areas)?

WT

PS: Dr. Quinn, what standards will you be using to make such distinctions in 
your study?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Olivia Kwong" <plant at plantconservation.org>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 11:57 AM
Subject: [APWG] QUESTION: Escaped Miscanthus spp. in your area? (fwd)


>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 12:39:50 -0400
> From: Jil_Swearingen at nps.gov
> Subject: Fw: Escaped Miscanthus spp. in your area?
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Please read Dr. Quinn's message below and contact her if you'd like to
> participate in her project. The more input she receives, the better the
> results. Miscanthus is known to be invasive in natural areas in the 
> eastern
> U.S. with most reported occurrences coming from northern New Jersey and 
> the
> Appalachian region of North Carolina and Tennessee, sporadically elsewhere
> (see link below). It may be underreported in the mid-Atlantic.
>
> http://www.eddmaps.org/midatlantic/distribution/viewmap.cfm?sub=3052
>
> Thank you,
>
> Jil
> ________________
> JiL SWEARINGEN
> IPM & Invasive Species Specialist
> NCR Center for Urban Ecology
> Washington, DC 20007
> 202-342-1443, ex 218
>
> www.nps.gov/cue | www.nps.gov/plants/alien
> www.invasiveplantatlas.org | www.maipc.org
>
> ----- Forwarded by Jil Swearingen/NCR/NPS on 04/06/2011 12:22 PM -----
>
> From: Lauren Quinn <ldquinn at illinois.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 1:34 PM
>
> Hello,
>
> First of all, apologies for cross- and duplicate postings. This message
> seems to have been going around fast and furious in the last couple of
> days! Thanks to any of you who have already responded.
>
> I am a researcher at the University of Illinois, and I'm looking for help
> to locate escaped individuals or whole populations of Miscanthus sinensis
> and/or M. sacchariflorus in natural areas in your state. As you may know,
> these are large ornamental grasses commonly planted in gardens and used in
> landscaping. Unfortunately, many varieties of Miscanthus have the capacity
> to produce copious viable seeds which can establish in "natural" areas
> (e.g. roadsides, pastures, forest openings) to become invasive. As part of
> a large study aimed at describing the current distribution of naturalized
> Miscanthus populations, I am planning to visit as many of these 
> populations
> as possible this summer and next.
>
> If your membership can help me out with specific locations and other
> information (see below), I'd very much appreciate it! Also, feel free to
> forward this message to any other knowledgeable parties. I am not
> restricting my search to the Southeast, so if you've got weedy friends in
> other parts of the country, feel free to send it along.
>
> More specifics on what I'm looking for...
>
> - The species: Miscanthus sinensis and Miscanthus sacchariflorus
> General info on M. sinensis:
> http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MISI
> General info on M. sacchariflorus:
> http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MISA
> Current known distribution of naturalized/escaped/invasive M. sinensis:
> http://www.eddmaps.org/google/index.cfm?sub=3052
> A side-by-side comparison of M. sinesis and M. sacchariflorus:
> http://miscanthus.cfans.umn.edu/identification.html
>
> - The environmental context: any Miscanthus individuals in "natural" 
> areas.
> That is, plants that have established independently away from intentional
> cultivation. "Natural areas" can be roadsides, forest openings, pastures,
> etc. I am not as interested in instances of "volunteer" plants growing in
> the same yard where they were planted in the first place. Ideally, I'm
> looking for plants that have moved themselves (via seed dispersal or 
> rarely
> rhizome dispersal) some substantial distance away from plantings (perhaps
> across some natural boundary) to establish healthy self-sustaining
> populations.
> Examples of such populations for M. sinensis:
> https://picasaweb.google.com/lauren.quinn/MiscanthusSinensisUSAPopulations?authkey=Gv1sRgCLejucuBiq7GAg#
>
>
> - The info I'd like (I'll take whatever I can get):
> Location (GPS coordinates, if possible. If not, then an intersection, or
> other landmark)
> Description of environmental context (e.g. roadside, pasture, etc)
> Population size (a rough estimate of the number of plants. E.g. one, a
> handful, a dozen, hundreds, etc)
> If on private property, names/contact info of property owners if possible
> If possible, an estimate of the history of the population (how long it has
> been there, where the nearest planting is and when it was planted)
> A photo of the population
> Your contact info
>
> - An additional useful step:
> If possible, folks could add their sightings to the map of naturalized
> populations of M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus on EDDMaps. I suppose I
> don't have to tell the folks on this list about this service (!), but the
> fairly painless process is described here:
> http://www.eddmaps.org/report/index2.cfm
> Otherwise, folks can send their sightings directly to me at this email
> address: ldquinn at illinois.edu
>
> Thank you so much!
>
> Lauren Quinn
>
>
> Lauren D. Quinn, Ph.D.
> Post Doctoral Researcher
> Energy Biosciences Institute
> University of Illinois
> Urbana, IL 61801
>
>
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> opinion of the individual posting the message.
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