title: Livestock as a potential biological control agent for an invasive wetland plant.
abstract: Invasive species threaten biodiversity and incur costs exceeding billions of US$. Eradication efforts, however, are nearly always unsuccessful. Throughout much of North America, land managers have used expensive, and ultimately ineffective, techniques to combat invasive Phragmites australis in marshes. Here, we reveal that Phragmites may potentially be controlled by employing an affordable measure from its native European range: livestock grazing. Experimental field tests demonstrate that rotational goat grazing (where goats have no choice but to graze Phragmites) can reduce Phragmites cover from 100 to 20% and that cows and horses also readily consume this plant. These results, combined with the fact that Europeans have suppressed Phragmites through seasonal livestock grazing for 6,000 years, suggest Phragmites management can shift to include more economical and effective top-down control strategies. More generally, these findings support an emerging paradigm shift in conservation from high-cost eradication to economically sustainable control of dominant invasive species.
authors.affiliation: Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University , Beaufort, NC , USA.
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Silliman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Bryn Mawr College , Bryn Mawr, PA , USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mozdzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida , Gainesville, FL , USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Angelini
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland , College Park, MD , USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Brundage
authors.affiliation: Community and Conservation Ecology, University of Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands ; PUCCIMAR Ecological Research and Consultancy , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Esselink
authors.affiliation: Community and Conservation Ecology, University of Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Maryland , College Park, MD , USA.
authors.forename: Keryn B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Gedan
authors.affiliation: Community and Conservation Ecology, University of Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands ; Spatial Ecology Department, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) , Yerseke , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van de Koppel
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland , College Park, MD , USA.
authors.forename: Andrew H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Baldwin
keywords: Biocontrol; Invasive species; Salt marshes; Top-down control