Backyard Invasions

The curator holds an herbarium sheet. These are invaluable for determining historical floristic compositions of an area, among other things.

(For more about herbarium sheets and their botanical role - click on "store")
The article "New exhibit focuses on invasive plants," is about a new exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, features images of invasive and endangered Pennsylvania plants. The display — both informative and elegant — is a combination of drawings, paintings, etchings, and giclées (digital prints).

Overall the article does a good job of framing the issues, with the exception of the author's final comment about cultivars that "are native plants" that "can satisfy a consumer's wants without harming the environment." This is not entirely true, but that discussion is a post in and of itself.

Educating the public about the ecological costs of invasives is important, as they continue to devastate our systems. Case in point, newly published research shows how a honeysuckle shrub (Lonicera mackii) used in gardens and landscapes harms forests by disturbing the understory layer, tree reproduction and mature tree productivity.

Hardwood stands from southwestern Ohio had noticeably lower species diversity and vegetation cover below the shrubs to detect growth changes 25 years prior to and 25 years following invasion. The growth rates of overstory trees was reduced significantly. The effect of this slowdown were first observed about 6 yrs after invasion with the greatest frequency of negative growth changes occurring 20 yrs after invasion.

The abstract - Hardwood forest invasion by a non-indigenous shrub (Amur honeysuckle) negatively affects overstory productivity (a pdf)
More on the invasiveness of shrub honeysuckles