Invasive Species

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• Invasive Species Climate Change
• What can we do about these threats in
• conservation planning management?

Mandy Tu, Ph.D. TNCs Invasive Species
Team imtu_at_tnc.org 503-802-8150 http//tncweeds.ucd
avis.edu
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Invasive Species Impacts Our Work

• Ecosystem Level Impacts
• Disturbance Regimes
• Hydrology
• Geomorphological Processes
• Soil Chemistry
• Community Population Level Impacts
• Vegetation Structure
• Community Composition
• Resource Competition
• Negative Impacts on Native Animals
• Promotion of Non-native Invasive Animals
• Population Reductions, Eliminations
• Reduced Recruitment of Natives
• Vector pathogens and pests
• Hybridization with Native Species

Invasive Species threats are widespread and
pervasive, and if not addressed will prevent TNC
from achieving its Mission. Why buy and
protect lands and waters only to have them
degraded by invaders?
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TNCs Approach to Inv Spp Prevention Mgmt
1. Comprehensively ASSESS inv spp threats,
potential threats, and impacts on conservation
targets 2. PREVENTION of new harmful
invasions 3. EARLY DETECTION RAPID RESPONSE to
new invasions 4. MANAGEMENT, CONTROL
RESTORATION of established invaders to maximize
target viability
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A Few General Assumptions about Climate Changes
Invasive Species
It does not look good
Interaction of climate change-invasive
species-altered fire/hydrology is complex and
impacts on targets are difficult to predict
a. Many sites/systems may be more vulnerable to
invasionb. May lead to increases in invasive
species success - Range expansions - More
likely to establish - Increased rates of growth
reproductionc. Some species currently not
considered invasive, may become
invasive (and cause significant impacts)
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So what can we DO? Should we change how we
currently work to prevent manage invasives?
No, our approach remains the same, but there are
several things that we should be aware of and
address
Assessment, prevention EDRR, management, etc.
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Topics/Issues that need to be considered with
predicted climate changes
- New invaders (New suites of invaders? New
species watch lists in vulnerable sites,
different taxa, natives as invaders?) - New
pathways vectors (reforestation, biofuels,
etc.) - Managing only the highest priority
projects/sites/targets (we need to be very
specific about what we are trying to protect and
where/when we should intervene)
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In Conservation Action Plans
Recommend 1. If appropriate, develop a few
objectives and strategies that address invasive
species threats into your CAP 2. Emphasize not
only control management, but perhaps more
importantly, PREVENTION EDRR Example
objectives strategies that address best
practices for including invasive species into
CAPs are available, and IST is working on a
toolkit/resource guide with a model plan and
template too
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In Ecoregional Plans
Recommend Include invasive species into the
ecoregional threat analysis! Data Needs -
Invasive species occurrences/locations (or simple
/- data) - Impacts ( potential impacts) of
those invaders on targets - Predicted spread of
invaders, under different climate change
scenarios Can Be Used to Determine - If we
should get involved - How much should we invest?

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A Few Concluding Thoughts (for now)
- Need to better include invasive species
Prevention EDRR into Conservation Action Plans
and Ecoregional Plans - Climate change/invasive
species/altered hydrology fire interactions are
complex and impacts are very difficult to
predict - Need to be very specific about what we
are managing for, because there are not enough
resources to adequately manage everything - May
need to manage mixed systems, as long as our
conservation targets remain viable, sometimes it
means that we do not get involved