Timothy Seastedt
Organized by the Invasive Species Working Group,
Introduction. How we got here. T.
R. Seastedt
Presentations:
1.
Forest pests at Coweeta, past and future. J. R. Webster and colleagues
2.
Potential impacts of hemlock woolly adelgid on
terrestrial ecosystems.B. Kloeppel and colleagues.
3. Effect of humus precursors and
sucrose on exotic species in a disturbed shortgrass
steppe site. W.K. Lauenroth,
P.N. Lowe and I.C. Burke.
4. Invasion of herbaceous
communities in the LTER: Synthesis and future
directions. M. Smith and
colleagues
Group discussion:
Opportunities for Network-Level
Science Focus: Invasive Species
Core Question: What are the controls and
the impacts of invasive species in ecosystems?
A. Evaluating the Production Potential of Ecosystems: Using
exotic invasive species to assess biotic constraints on productivity. Alan
Knapp
B. Evaluating the invasive threat of introduced
species. Tim Seastedt
Summary:
Public interest groups and policy makes have identified
species invasions as an issue of environmental and economic concern. Invasive species questions were identified in
the 2002 20-yr LTER review and 2003 Coordination Committee meeting as important
components of an emerging network-wide scientific initiative. The LTER program
is preadapted to provide the research that can
identify the mechanisms and drivers of species change. Nonindigeous
species questions are nested within the larger framework of issues involving
the causes and consequences of biotic change.
Integrated, cross-site research efforts can be nested within
experimental and descriptive efforts focused at understanding causes and
consequences of biodiversity, succession, restoration, and role of biota in
global environmental change. Presentations centered on new results from LTER
sites on patterns and causal mechanisms of invasions, and tests of ecosystem invasibility. These were followed by a discussion that will
examine a) Mark Davis's (BioSci. 2003) hypotheses as
foci for ongoing and new LTER efforts and b) explore ways to conduct invasive
species research within the broader framework of LTER programs involved in the
analysis of species change.
The Discussion from this meeting was used to form the core of the invasive species initiatives suggested for the Network LTER 2004 Planning Grant.