New Research on Invasives and Ecological Restoration

Ecological and habitat restoration are becoming increasingly significant areas of research as species dwindle due to habitat loss or displacement via invasive species. Researchers will be gathering in Victoria in August to present findings and solutions to the problems of damaged ecosystems and plant invasions at SER2004, the Society for Ecological Restoration International's 16th annual World Conference.

A goal of the organizers is to share the conference proceedings on the web; abstracts of papers and presentations will be posted and maintained in a searchable web database as a resource for restorationists and the public.

Presentations to be given at the conference site that explore issues of invasives and habitat restoration include:

• Interactions between an invasive blackberry and oak recruitment in northern California (PDF). This is a study by Kimberlyn Williams examining how blackberry thickets promote or inhibit the establishment of new oak trees.
• Raj Prasad conducted tests on Vancouver Island to determine the effect of the widely distributed and invasive Scotch broom on seedling growth of native Douglas fir. Details are to be presented in Mechanisms of invasiveness of the exotic weed, Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link) in British Columbia, Canada (PDF)
• G. Jeremiah Schewe tested techniques for weed suppression using biodegradable mulches instead of chemical or cultivation methods that are commonly used. His paper Sheetmulching: Eradicating weeds, compacted soils, and Round-Up from restoration ecology (PDF) shares his findings.

To learn more about the conference, the papers and the Society for Ecological Restoration:

• SER2004
• SER2004 Papers and Presentations
• Society for Ecological Restoration BC
• Society for Ecological Restoration International

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 2:35 PM on May 21, 2004

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