An Undergraduate Network for Analyzing Plant Invasion in U.S. National Wildlife Refuges - A Workshop Proposal

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Much of conservation policy is predicated on the idea that ecological reserves can protect species that cannot survive in human-dominated areas. Unfortunately, invasive species, including weeds, forest pests, and feral predators like cats and rats, don't respect reserve boundaries. They may establish within reserves and displace or consume the native species that the reserves were designed to protect. Understanding the factors that promote the spread of invasive species within protected areas is therefore a critical issue for conservation biology. Students in undergraduate Ecology and Conservation Biology classes from across the country will compile data on invasive plants in the National Wildlife Refuges within their own region. The classes will use these data to analyze the factors that tend to promote or inhibit plant invasions and the extent to which these factors vary from one region to the next. In addition to increasing our understanding of impacts of and controls on invasive species, this project also has a strong educational component. More than 200 students in eight classes will have the opportunity to participate in a continental-scale ecological research project. All of these students will gain experience in data analysis and data management at the interface of science and conservation policy. NSF funding will support travel of one student and one instructor from each class to an intensive workshop at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. At this workshop, each group will present the results of their regional analysis. Workshop participants will then complete an analysis of the pooled data from all the classes and create a database on invasive plants in National Wildlife Refuges. This database will be available to wildlife managers and other researchers, supporting management efforts and future research on the spread of invasive plants into protected areas.