COS 215-3 - Identifying invasive ‘sleeper’ species in Northeastern US Changing climate

Thursday, August 18, 2022

8:30 AM – 8:45 AM EDT

Location: 516D

Presenting Author(s)

Ayodele C. Ouhuru

MS. Student
University of Massachusetts- Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts, United States

Slides (PDF)

Coauthor(s)

BB

Bethany Bradley

Professor
University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States
Toni Lyn Morelli

Research Ecologist
U.S. Geological Survey Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, Massachusetts, United States

Background/Question/Methods

Climate change interacts with invasive species to create new threats for ecosystem management. One concern is the rising threat of ‘sleeper’ invasive species, which are nonnative populations that have naturalized, but whose population growth is limited by one or more abiotic or biotic conditions. With the northeastern U.S. projected to warm faster than the global average, it’s likely that some sleeper populations will soon begin to awaken. Because sleeper species are not currently invasive and widespread, eradicating naturalized populations now is a management option. To assist limited management resources on the non-native species posing the greatest threats, we assessed the potential that naturalized plants could cause ecological and socioeconomic impacts using a subset of non-native species from the US Department of Agriculture PLANTS Database. We identified non-native plants in the northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT) that are regulated noxious weeds outside of the region but currently not regulated in the northeast and whose potential impacts have not been evaluated. To assess potential impacts, we conducted Web of Science literature reviews and scored reported impacts of each species using the IUCN- supported protocol: the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa’ (EICAT) from minimal (1) to major (4) concern.

Results/Conclusions

From 1796 introduced plant species to the northeast, we identified 157 plant species that were present in the northeast, were regulated as invasive or noxious outside of the northeast, and were not regulated or previously evaluated in the northeast. Using EICAT, we identified 41 species with ‘major’ impacts leading to a loss of diversity or a decline in multiple native populations. 18 species had ‘moderate’ impacts reported as a decline in a single native population. 27 species had ‘minor’ or ‘minimal’ impacts, with reported changes in native behavior. 29 species did not have any reported negative ecological impacts but did show negative impacts on socio-economic systems. 42 species did not show any negative ecological or socioeconomic impacts. To support manager decision making, we also calculated how widespread each species is (based on the number of counties present in the northeast), identified vulnerable native habitat, and evaluated the current climate of the invaded range. Identifying potential sleeper populations before they become invasive can inform proactive, climate-smart invasive species management. Understanding sleeper species will provide support to vulnerable native ecosystems threatened by climate change to better protect them now and in the future.