IAN Seminar Series

An introduced form of Phragmites australis, Common Reed, has exploded in abundance in wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay since the 1980s. Phragmites quickly turns diverse native wetlands into monocultures that provide poorer habitat for native fauna. We combined analysis of patterns of genetic variation in existing reed stands that established in association with a range of anthropogenic stressors with an experimental reed removal study to understand how other stressors affect Phragmites spread and how landscape factors may affect the success of management. We found that most Phragmites seeds establish within 100m of their source, while few disperse farther than 500m, indicating a scale for successful management. Dispersing seeds are more likely to establish near bulkheads and riprap than on unhardened shorelines. Because of the possibility of re-establishment of Phragmites in areas with nearby seed sources, management may be most successful when carried out at the whole subestuary scale and in subestuaries with