In This Issue:

• Coastal Calendar
• FEATURE: A Perfect Moment for Mid-Atlantic Sea Change
• Waging War Against Invasive Species
• Statewide Grant Program Successfully Shores Up Marina Industry
• A Natural Tourism Alternative
• Preparing Future Science Teachers for Service

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The Jersey Shoreline

The Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) is among New Jersey's most invasive plant species.

Waging War Against Invasive Species

by Louise Wootton, Ph.D., Department of Biology, Georgian Court University

     If I told you a toxic spill had wiped out more than 10% of the native plants on the coastal dunes at Sandy Hook and Island Beach State Park in the past five years, and threatens to wipe out many more of those species in upcoming months, what would be your response? You’d probably think the state would be taking immediate action to contain the spill, and to clean up and restore the affected area. Sadly, in this case, and many like it, you’d be wrong.

     The pollutant I’m talking about isn’t a chemical, though. It’s a biological pollutant—a plant known as Asiatic sand sedge (Carex kobomugi). In just the five years that my students and I have been studying this plant, the area of dunes it’s taken over has doubled from about 20 to 40 acres at Island Beach State Park and tripled from 18 to 56 acres at Sandy Hook. And, wherever this sedge grows, it pushes out the native plants, so they become less and less abundant. Eventually many native plants are completely eliminated in the invaded areas -- bad news for all the animals in the food web that depend on those plants for food or habitat. The sedge is also pushing forward into the high beach areas that are essential nesting habitat for shore breeding birds such as the endangered piping plover, as well as potentially outcompeting endangered plants such as seabeach amaranth. Because the sedge is not as tall as the native beach grasses, it catches sand differently than the native beach grass, resulting in dunes that are wider and flatter than those stabilized by native plants. This is a concern because flatter dunes are less effective at protecting the communities behind them from flooding during major storms.

     Unfortunately, biological pollution doesn’t seem to elicit the outrage that other kinds of pollution do, even though its effects are at least as damaging, if not more so. And, unlike biological pollutants, chemical pollutants don’t reproduce themselves and become more abundant over time, even if no new pollution is added by human action. At a recent conference on Invasive Species in Coastal Dunes and Maritime Forests, keynote speaker Randy Westbrook of the U.S. Geological Survey in Whiteville, North Carolina suggested that part of the problem is that most of us are unaware of the species around us, so when one green thing is replaced by another, we often fail to notice. And, if the trees in an area suddenly start to die, we don’t always stop to wonder why.

     Once you look more closely, though, you realize invasive species are all around us. I’m betting you could probably spot at least two or three different ones just on the sides of the road on your way to work. I drive less than eight miles from my home to my office at Georgian Court University, and on that drive each day I see Phragmites, multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, oriental bittersweet, spotted knapweed and many other invasives. For a while there was even a patch of kudzu. Fortunately, because that patch was spotted early in its invasion, I was able to work with Brick Township (where it was located) and the landowner to get it removed. This brings up an important point: if we’re vigilant and take notice when new species come into a habitat early on, and take action to remove it, it is actually possible to wage a pretty effective battle against invasive species. Such “early detection, rapid response” programs are much needed here in New Jersey.