Every day is earth day, but sometime ‘she’ needs a little help from us to protect her from the grip of invasive species.  One that has come to recent attention is Phragmites, a noxious weed that is taking over shorelines, canals, drainage ditches, wetlands and prairies in the Midwest.

This invasive weed has taken over about 100,000 acres of wetland in Michigan.

Phragmites on Westman Road

It marches from marsh to marsh and from one roadside ditch to another and chokes out other vegetation in wetlands, including cattails, bulrushes and sedges.  Phragmites disrupt the food web by destroying food bearing native plants that reduces the number of fur bearing animals, insects, butterflies, non-migratory songbirds, reptiles, amphibians and other wildlife that inhabit wetlands.

Phragmites have been in Michigan and other states for centuries, but there is evidence the weed has hybridized with an aggressive species from Australia.  Scientists believe the Australian Phragmite was brought to the United States as an ornamental plant and eventually cross-pollinated with local Phragmites.  Scientists differ as to why they have suddenly raged out of control.

Kurt Getsinger, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mississippi, said low water levels in the Great Lakes over the past few years could partly be to blame.  “During low water periods the native wetland species decline, however, phragmites have the ability to become established in that situation — quickly expanding its range. They are taking advantage of the low lake levels and going into new areas, crowding out other vegetation, and that’s not good.”

(more…)

Filed under: Invasives, Phragmites | Leave a Comment »