Chemical Control of Invasive Phragmites in a Great Lakes Marsh: A Field Demonstration.

摘要

This field demonstration evaluated herbicide management techniques against the invasive wetland plant phragmites (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex Steud) that infests wetlands of Lake St. Clair; its purpose was to determine whether the techniques employed can play a role in the restoration of an ecologically important Great Lakes marsh vegetative community. Lake St. Clair is a large freshwater lake that is situated approximately 10 km (6 miles) northeast of Detroit, Michigan. Its midline forms the boundary between Canada and the U.S. (Figure 1). With about 1114 Km2 (430 square miles) of surface area, Lake St. Clair is part of the Great Lakes System. This waterbody connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie, and is fed from water flowing out of Lake Huron via the St. Clair River, emptying into Lake Erie via the Detroit River. Along the northeastern shore of Lake St. Clair is the St. John s Marsh Wildlife Area (SJMWA), a 1214 ha (3,000-acre) wetland dedicated to wildlife conservation and management (Figure 1). The vegetation of this area is characterized as Great Lakes Marsh, which is a wetland community restricted to the shoreline of the Great Lakes and their major connecting rivers. These marshes are productive natural systems and provide important habitat for migrating and breeding waterfowl, shore-birds, spawning fish, and medium-sized mammals, including many state threatened and endangered species such as the king rail (Rallus elegans Audubon), Foster s tern (Sterna forsteri Nuttall), least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis (Gmelin)), merlin (Falco columbarius Linnaeus), and Hine s emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana Williamson). There are nine groups of the Great Lakes Marsh, and the SJMWA is part of the Lake Erie-St. Clair Lakeplain marsh group (Albert 2001).