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Multiscale Invasive Plant Monitoring: Experiences from the Greater Everglades Restoration Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2017

LeRoy Rodgers ,
Tony Pernas ,
Jed Redwine ,
Brooke Shamblin  and
Shea Bruscia
LeRoy Rodgers*
Affiliation:
Lead Invasive Species Biologist, South Florida Water Management District, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Tony Pernas
Affiliation:
Supervisory Botanist, Big Cypress National Preserve, 33100 Tamiami Trail, East Ochopee, FL, USA
Jed Redwine
Affiliation:
Ecologist, U.S. National Park Service, 950 N. Krome Avenue, Homestead, FL, USA
Brooke Shamblin
Affiliation:
Botanist, U.S. National Park Service, 18001 Old Cutler Rd. Suite 419, Palmetto Bay, FL, USA
Shea Bruscia
Affiliation:
Data Manager, U.S. National Park Service, 950 N. Krome Avenue, Homestead, FL, USA
*
Author for correspondence: LeRoy Rodgers, South Florida Water Management District, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33406. (Email: lrodgers@sfwmd.gov)
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Abstract

Obtaining spatially explicit, cost-effective, and management-relevant data on invasive plant distributions across large natural areas presents considerable challenges. This is especially true when multiple monitoring objectives exist, because the utility of different monitoring methodologies varies with scale, logistical considerations, and information needs. The Florida Everglades is a vast wetland landscape with widespread invasive plant infestations and multiple management jurisdictions. A multi-agency team Working Group conducted a workshop in 2013 to explore opportunities to enhance the performance of a regional weed control program. Among the most important developments occurring at this meeting was the recognition that relevant management questions are scale-dependent. This led the team to define multiple monitoring objectives. Essential for conveying the success of the weed management program is quantifying large-scale patterns of change, as are quantifying fine-scale patterns informing control activities, defining mechanisms of spread, recognizing accelerating rates of spread, and detecting patterns of occupancy immediately before management intervention. The group’s deliberation resulted in the emergence of a multiscale monitoring program utilizing several distinct monitoring protocols, including systematic landscape-level reconnaissance, a sample-based spatially stratified monitoring system, detailed inventories in planned treatment areas, and a set of methods focused solely on early detection and rapid response. Here we provide an overview of the Everglades multiscale invasive plant monitoring program, highlight benefits and challenges of each program component, and discuss how this program has improved regional invasive plant management.

Keywords

Krishna Reddy, United States Department of AgricultureExotic plantsdigital aerial sketch mappingEverglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areaspatially stratified monitoringlandscapevegetation management
Type
Symposium
Information
Weed Technology , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 11 - 19
Copyright
© Weed Science Society of America, 2017 

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