Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Lauderdale, Florida » Invasive Plant Research Laboratory » Research » Research Project #440488

Research Project: Area-Wide Project for Integrated Management Addressing Waterhyacinth (Pontederia Crassipes)

Location: Invasive Plant Research Laboratory

Project Number: 6032-22000-013-084-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jul 1, 2021
End Date: Aug 30, 2025

Objective:
1. Establish cooperative agreement to support one Ph.D. student to investigate impacts of integrated management treatments on waterhyacinth and other emerging aquatic invasive plants. 2. The student will work with USDA to design experiments and be part of the team to implement the experimental design. 3. The student will present any findings in written reports, referred articles and scientific meetings.

Approach:
Aquatic invasive plants cause millions of dollars of damage to Florida's freshwater ecosystems. The bulk of their control has relied on herbicides which can have harmful impacts to non-target vegetation and some have been associated with harmful human impacts. Integrated management of aquatic invasive weeds using a combination of biological control, mechanical removal and herbicidal control may provide better control than any one of these methods and frequently reduces the volume and interval of herbicide needed to reach control and maintenance status. The herbicide portion of the research will be guided by our cooperators based on their expertise.