Invasive Plants Threaten Ecosystem

Foreign plants have become “nuclear biological threats,” pushing local plants, animals and birds to the brink of extinction, according to university scientists.

Douglas Tallamy, director of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology, said it will take thousands of years for insects and animals to adapt to these nonnative plans.

Plants play a crucial role in the ecosystem because insects eat plants and animals eat insects, he said. Without native plants, he said the native insects have nothing to feed on and the ecosystem can shut down as a result.

Tallamy, who has researched the effect of invasive plants for 10 years, said 79 percent of plants in suburban areas are not part of the local food chain, and are not contributing to biodiversity.

“This bothers me,” Tallamy said. “There’s no reason for this. No one thought it was a problem, but it absolutely is a problem. It developed over the read more>>

Protected Planet Report 2012 Highlights Need to Conserve Global Biodiversity

The Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, one of many protected areas conserved by the IUCN, harbors one fifth of Africa’s known plant species.

 The first-ever Protected Planet Report was recently released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC). The report addresses the need to conserve areas of the natural environment by protecting local resources and native species. This will help preserve global biodiversity, the variety of living organisms that exist on the planet. The report tracks progress on Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Aichi Biodiversity Targets. According to Target 11, by 2020, 17 percent of terrestrial ecoregions and 10 percent of marine ecoregions will be properly conserved.

As the global population and their use of natural resources steadily increases, the Aichi Targets hope to protect global biodiversity from historic and emerging threats, such as pollution and over-harvesting of natural resources. Protected areas are internationally recognized regions set aside for nature and biodiversity conservation. Protected areas are crucial for reasons beyond preserving biodiversity; they also aid scientific research, maintain water supplies, and preserve sites of cultural importance. By limiting human occupation and preventing exploitation of natural resources, the UNEP-WCMC conserves protected areas around the world. According to the report, protected areas currently cover 12.7 percent of the world’s land area and 1.6 percent of the global ocean area. Meanwhile, half of the world’s most important sites for biodiversity still remain unprotected. Read more>>>

The Social Lives of Plants

A diverse assemblage of plants, like this one at Cedar Creek Natural 

History Area, produces more vegetation and performs "ecosystem services" better.

One of the biggest joys of science comes when nature hands you a complete surprise.

It happened recently to two of the U's most prominent ecologists and their research colleagues, who uncovered the functional equivalent of social networks in ordinary grassland plants.

Those networks, destroyed when land is cleared for agriculture, hold hope for treating some of the world's biggest ecological ills. The existence of complex plant relationships leaped out from data on how high biodiversity—large numbers of species—boosted yields of vegetation and became even an even stronger force with time.


The two studies, led by Regents Professors David Tilman of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior and Peter Reich of the Department of Forest Resources, continue>>>