Abstract Detail

Conservation Biology

Cahill, Blake [1], Hansen, Sara [1], Monfils, Anna [2].

Adaptive Management of Invasive Aquatic Plants: A Case Study on European Frog-bit.

Conservation practitioners tasked with managing invasive species are confronted with increasingly complex decisions due to biological and ecological uncertainties, varying stakeholder interests and influence, and resource limitations. European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.; hereafter EFB), an invasive free-floating aquatic plant first documented in North America in 1939, has become a concern for water resource managers in the Laureation Great Lakes due to its recent expansion into inland waters and potential impacts on wetland ecosystems. From 2018 to 2021, we integrated real-time EFB management, monitoring, and research into a comprehensive and community-derived adaptive management framework (AMF) for EFB management using the Conservation Standards. We held four workshops with local resource managers, state and federal agencies, tribal/first nation governments, and researchers from universities to elicit their concerns and priority needs and actions for EFB management. Within the first year of the project, we had aligned research and funding with stakeholder priorities, coalesced on a shared understanding of the problem, and identified strategies for addressing EFB. By early 2021, we had completed one iteration of the adaptive management cycle and expanded our engagement with regional and international participation. We discuss lessons learned that enhanced stakeholder participation in the strategic planning process, including stakeholder mapping that was responsive to advances in EFB distribution and the needs of the community and workshop activities that accounted for participant expertise and familiarity with the Conservation Standards. A comprehensive and publicly available synthesis of knowledge on EFB biology, ecology, and control formed the foundation of all workshop activities and allowed for forward-thinking discussions and real-time identification of research and management gaps and opportunities. Decision-making was informed by a responsive and validated EFB occurrence dataset of historical, community-derived, and targeted survey data. A decision-making member or body with the capacity to influence cross-jurisdictional decisions will be required to facilitate the long-term implementation of the AMF.

1 - Central Michigan University, Biology, 2100 Biosciences, Mount Pleasant, MI, 48858, USA
2 - Central Michigan University, Biology, 2401 Biosciences, Mount Pleasant, MI, 48858, USA

Keywords:
Adaptive Management
Floating invasive macrophytes.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: CB04, Conservation Biology 4
Location: /
Date: Friday, July 23rd, 2021
Time: 1:30 PM(EDT)
Number: CB04004
Abstract ID:444
Candidate for Awards:None