ARS | Publication request: Using Remote Sensing Imagery to Improve and Validate Predictions of Phalaris arundinacea Invasion

Submitted to: Society of Wetland Scientists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 10, 2009
Publication Date: June 22, 2009
Citation: Jakubowski, A., Casler, M.D., Jackson, R. 2009. Using Remote Sensing Imagery to Improve and Validate Predictions of Phalaris arundinacea Invasion [abstract]. Society of Wetland Scientists. p. 99.

Technical Abstract: The prediction of the spread of invasive species has become an important tool to help land managers focus their efforts. Here we identify how the definition of an invasive species as a driver or passenger of change is important in determining the best modeling approach for a species and how invasion models for species that are capable of being remotely sensed can be validated at large, spatially explicit scales. Using reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), one of the most dominant wetland invaders in North America over the past century, as a model species, we predict reed canarygrass cover at the watershed scale using land cover variables with high accuracy. Landscape composition was a significant, but poorer predictor of invasion than the landscape configuration of a watershed, with the adjacency of wetlands to agriculture and water being the best predictors of reed canarygrass cover in the wetlands of a watershed. These results imply that management should differ for species classified as drivers or passengers of change, convey the importance of understanding the landscape context of a wetland before attempting restoration for a passenger species, allow for predictions of invasion risk at a watershed scale, and may be a useful indicator of the potential for restoration success of an invaded wetland.