IMPACT OF NON - INDIGENOUS PLANT SPECIES

 

Background

Amphibians are suffering worldwide from loss of habitat, climate change, pesticides, introduced predators and disease. Hundreds of species are showing dramatic declines and many species have gone extinct recently.  At the same time introduced plant species are spreading rapidly and increasing in abundance, including in amphibian habitats.  When we began our investigations in 2000 little, if any, work had evaluated the potential impact of introduced plant species (or plant species in general) on amphibians in aquatic or terrestrial habitats. 

 

 

Objectives

Our work evaluated the impact of individual plant species on amphibians in their larval (aquatic) and adult (terrestrial) habitats.  We used a number of case studies on plant-amphibian interactions and increasingly are involved in “screening” many different plant species (both native and introduced) for the impact on frogs and salamanders.  We are particularly interested in the mechanisms (direct toxicity or through “domino effects” in food webs) that may result in positive or negative effects. 

 

 

 

Outcomes

 

Our results show that

  1. Plants both in terrestrial and aquatic habitats can have strong effects on native amphibians
  2. The effects appear both in response to directly toxic secondary chemistry of senescent plant material as well as indirect effects that manifest themselves through changes in food webs
  3. Generalizations are few, we find many species-specific interactions, i.e. certain amphibians are affected by certain plant species while others are not.  

 

 

 

Performers/Collaborators

Bernd Blossey

Carrie Brown, DNR Cornell (now working in Brazil)

John Maerz, DNR Cornell (now at University of Georgia, Athens)

Carmen Chapin, DNR Cornell (now working for the National Park Service)

Victoria Nuzzo, Natural Area Consultants

Jill Cohen, DNR Cornell

Laura Martin, DNR Cornell

 

 

Sponsors

National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Kiekheffer Foundation, Illinois Division of Nature Preserves, Biodiversity Research Institute, Cornell University, NY Department of Transportation