From the ground, Phragmites australis
looks harmless enough. We're used to seeing this native
reed swaying in the breeze next to ponds, in wetlands,
even where water's collected in the highway median.
But, in the last five to 10 years, a European strain of
Phragmites has gone on an aggressive growth spurt, crowding
out native wetland plants in Southeastern Michigan, including
much of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
(DRIWR). The refuge spans 48 miles of Detroit River shoreline
from River Rouge to just outside of Toledo.
 |
WETLANDS INVADERS: Yichun Xie (left), head
of
EMU's Institute for Geospatial Research and
Education,
examines Phragmites, an invasive
wetlands species
in Southeastern Michigan. With the
help of a $633,000
NOAA grant, EMU faculty —
including (above,
from middle) Steve Francoeur,
Kristi Judd and Bill
Welsh — are taking an
interdisciplinary
approach to helping Detroit River
International Wildlife
Refuge staff with the mapping
and water quality data
it needs to manage the
wetlands and deal with the invasive
species. |
A team of Eastern Michigan University geographers and
wetland biologists were recently awarded a two-year, $633,000
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
grant to give DRIWR staff the information they need to
make good decisions about Phragmites control.
"We're trying to partner with the wildlife refuge to provide
them with the information they need to manage the Phragmites," said
EMU biologist Steve Francoeur. "That means giving them
good GIS maps and remote sensing so they can figure out
where the reed is and where they have problems. And then
we also want to investigate how the wetlands are functioning
and exactly what the problems are in the wetlands that
have this plant in them."
By combining the expertise — and the tools — of
geographers, biologists and natural area managers, the
team leading this research hopes to relieve some of the
pressure on the DRIWR's wetlands and, ultimately, give
managers a new platform from which to deal with other invasive
species.
"In our disciplinary-based world, we tend to just talk
to each other," said Bill Welsh, an EMU assistant geography
professor. "Biologists talk to biologists, and so on and
so forth. And, yet, real-world problems are often more
complex and require a variety of expertise that no one
individual or field has."
Welsh and geography colleague Yichun Xie, head of EMU's
Institute for Geospatial Research and Education, will zoom
out, while Francoeur and fellow wetland biologist Kristi
Judd zoom in.
Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and hyperspectral
remote sensors, Welch and Xie can map specific species
and ecosystem conditions to create a picture of the reed's
prevalence and spread patterns that couldn't be seen from
the ground. Francoeur and Judd, meanwhile, will collect
water quality samples and measure ecological indicators
that tell the story of the wetland's health.
The project also will give EMU graduate and undergraduate
students, and select Detroit Public Schools students, a
chance to get direct, hands-on experience with scientific
research and technology.
"One of the key benefits of this project for EMU and the
community is the synergy between research and teaching
— providing experiences that classroom lectures alone cannot," Welsh
said.
Not so long ago, people saw wetlands as little more than
swamps — nasty places one didn't particularly want to go.
Only more recently have those swamps gotten their due credit
as fish nurseries, water filters, wildlife habitats, carbon
collectors and recreation areas.
Francoeur estimates that 95 percent of the original wetlands
in the refuge have been drained and/or filled in the heavy
industrial corridor. The wetlands that are left there are
under increasing pressure to do all those functions that
wetlands do, and Phragmites represents one more stress
on an already strained system.
Eastern Michigan's team will follow up on the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service's control efforts to measure their
effectiveness and determine if those efforts had any unintended
consequences on the wetland or its function. Partnering
with the wildlife refuge also lets the EMU researchers
learn from ongoing Department of Fish and Wildlife control
efforts — such as spraying herbicides from a helicopter
— that would have been far beyond the budget of the NOAA
grant.
"I like the idea of taking advantage of natural experiments
that are going on that would otherwise not be scientifically
recorded," Judd said. "We talked to some people at the
DNR who are very enthusiastic about having somebody go
out there and take some water quality measurements and
perform some ecological surveys. They just don't (have
the resources to do that). Their time and money is put
into control."
