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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2019
- Title: Here's the Dirt: The Newest Recommendations for Garlic Mustard Management
- Primary Author: Kristina Stinson (University of Massachusetts - Amherst )
- Additional Authors: Sophie Argetsinger (University of Massachusetts - Amherst ); Erin Coates-Connor (University of Massachusetts - Amherst ); Michelle Jackson (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Abstract:
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a biennial plant from Eurasia that has rapidly become a problematic invasive species in North America. The formation of dense monocultures enables it to invade forest interiors, threatening native plant community composition. Garlic mustard reduces native plant diversity through direct competition for resources and as well as the chemical suppression of mycorrhizal symbioses that native species depend on. Although individual garlic mustard populations can be self-limiting over time, the species’ total North American range is continuing to expand, and the effects of its disruption on plant and soil communities can last for years. Despite the complex uncertainties of managing this system, thoughtful and targeted removal of garlic mustard is key. This poster, a version of a management pamphlet produced by Kristina Stinson’s lab at UMass Amherst (2018), summarizes methods for the removal of garlic mustard based on the most recent literature and research conducted in our lab. We provide a series of clear tasks that landowners, stakeholders, and managers will find useful regarding the eradication of garlic mustard.
- Research Category: Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens
