It's little wonder that fast-growing coastal 

 North Carolina is a primary battlefront — and 

 that state resource managers are raising a battle 

 cry to halt the invasion. 



Michele Droszcz, of the N.C. Coastal 

 Reserve, says that combatting Phragmites australis 

 requires a variety of strategies: 



• recognizing the enemy; 



• understanding its potential environmental 

 impact; 



• developing methods to eradicate or control 

 its colonization in the coastal region; and 



• finding resources to win the war. 



Droszcz is site manager at Kitty Hawk 

 Woods and Currituck Banks reserves in the 

 northernmost reach of the coast. She is leading 

 a research and outreach effort to deliver valuable 

 information about Phragmites australis to the pub- 

 lic, developers, resource managers and govern- 

 ment agencies. 



With the help of a grant from the 

 Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program 

 (APNEP), Droszcz is partnering on a variety of 

 fronts with staff from APNEP, the Rachel Carson 

 Estuarine Research Reserve and N.C. Cooperative 

 Extension. 



A 2004 summer workshop drew participa- 

 tion from public and private sectors to learn the 

 latest scientific data on Phragmites australis, to 

 share experiences from the field, and to create 

 an information-sharing network. A forthcoming 

 brochure will target coastal landowners with 

 identification and management tips. 



The APNEP grant also is underwriting re- 

 search at Kitty Hawk Woods to determine which 

 weapons and strategies are most effective against 

 the growing menace. 



Knowing the Enemy 



Technically, Phragmites australis is not a new 

 arrival to the plant realm in North Carolina, nor 

 in North America for that matter. 



"Phragmites australis likely was a minor com- 

 ponent in North American wetlands for thou- 

 sands of years," according to Alexander Krings, 

 curator of the North Carolina State University 

 Herbarium. "We know this from the accounts in 

 floras from the 1800s and 1900s." 



Floras are treatises on plants of a particular 

 area or period. Such literature describes Phrag- 

 mites australis, as "occasional," "not common," 

 and "rare to occasional" in ponds and marshes 

 from Canada to Newjersey. 



Yet, by the 1960s, it had been recorded in 

 nearly all U.S. states — and widespread enough 

 in New England to be considered a "nuisance" in 

 coastal and inland areas. 



"Early speculations for the change included 

 environmental and genetic causes, and raised 

 questions as to whether habitat changes might 

 be responsible," Krings says. 



Certainly, he notes, the expansion of 

 Phragmites australis parallels the loss of wetlands in 

 this country. Between the 1 780s and the 1 980s, 

 53 percent of all tidal and nontidal wetlands in 

 the United States were altered, filled or destroyed, 

 according to scientific literature. 



Still, scientists were stymied by the shift 

 from peaceful coexistence of Phragmites australis to 

 its "take-no-prisoners" dominance in wetlands. 



Genetic studies would reveal some answers. 

 Yale researcher Kristen Salstonstall collected leaf 

 samples from 1 997 to 2001 throughout the 

 plant's North Amencan and European range. 



For genetic compansons, she extracted 

 DNA from fresh samples as well as historic 

 herbarium specimens. When possible, fresh 

 samples were collected from the same localities 

 as herbarium specimens. 



Her study shows that a non-native strain of 

 Phragmites australis is responsible for the spread of 

 the nuisance aquatic plant since the 1 960s. 



In a paper published by the National 

 Academy of Science in 2002, "Cryptic Invasion 

 by a Non-native Genotype of the Common 

 Reed, Phragmites australis, into North America," 

 Salstonstall writes: 



Results indicate that an introduction has occurred, 

 and the introduced type has displaced native types as 

 well as expanded to regions previously not known to have 

 Phragmites australis. 



In fact, she concludes, native types of 

 Phragmites australis have disappeared from New 

 England — and may be threatened in other parts 

 of North America. 



Continued 



