Biology professor Carrie Wu has worked with her students to advance her research on a dangerous invasive species, Phragmites australis, which has influenced the Virginia Department of Recreation and Conservations procedures.

Their work is also in the process of being published and will be featured in a National Public Radio program.

I guess the main reason that we should be studying them is for the ecological impact they have, said freshman Amanda Moore, a biology major and psychology minor. Phragmites specifically, because it grows so rapidly, taking over the diversity of marshes. Its important we understand that and are able to make different conservation efforts, so theyre controlled.

After recognizing the threat of Phragmites, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation started using controlled burns and chemical sprays to stop it from spreading.

But Phragmites is prone to catch fire, and unlike other plants, it can re-sprout even when the top burns off, she said. Although these methods contain the species, they probably cannot eradicate a Phragmites population because even a small nodule can reestablish itself, Wu said. This adaptation also creates a fire hazard, she said.

Wus research shows that native Phragmites still exists in Virginia, a finding that she has integrated into her class, Biological Invasions. Because native Phragmites does not pose the same threats as the non-native, or invasive Phragmites, Wu focuses largely on how to differentiate between the two, she said.

Wu and her students have brought this idea to the departments attention. Before working together, the department applied its controlled methods to Phragmites populations without identifying whether they were actually invasive, she said.

Were bringing in a genetic tool to more definitely determine where native and invasive populations are, she said, so that they can target the invasive and try to conserve the native.

Wus students have focused on distinguishing the populations genetically, rather than morphologically, or by looking solely at their physical appearance, Wu said.

Phragmites is a tall wetland grass in both forms, but often, native and non-native species look and behave differently, she said. The native species usually grows in wetlands, coexisting with other species. Invasive Phragmites grows into a hedge about six to 10 feet tall. These hedges live in isolation because they have a more aggressive growth form, she said.

Read more from the original source:
Biology class advances research on Phragmites australis