Do you want to be part of the largest ever international effort to study an invasive plant?
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It is widely believed that invasive species are larger, reproduce more and reach higher densities compared to their native ancestors. However, there are surprisingly few hard data to support this claim, even for some of the most well-known invaders. One of the most problematic invaders in North America is garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), yet without good field data, important questions remain unanswered.
Alliaria petiolata
Does garlic mustard really grow larger and reproduce better in North American populations than in native European populations? How much variation in performance is there among populations within Europe and North America? Answers to questions like these will ultimately lead to better understanding and management of invasive species
With your help, our goal is to form a broad network of scientists, students and environmentalists from across the globe to fill an important gap in data on native and introduced plant populations. This project is designed to be simple and achieved with just a few hours of work, once populations have been located.
This project is open to all. The map below show the possible extent of the garlic mustard in the northern hemisphere. The shaded areas of the map correspond to the density of the species. So black=high density, grey=low density.
Introduced Range:
North America
USA (AK, AR, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV)
CAN (BC, NB, NS, ON, QC)
Europe and the Middle East
Most of Europe and parts of North Africa and the Middle East surrounding the Mediterranean the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
Asia
Near China’s borders with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (China, Japan). Some populations in southern and eastern China, North Korea, South Korea and Japan.
Populations have also been identified in the southern hemisphere in Argentina, New Zealand and Australia. (....more information)
GPS unit, 2 meter sticks (or yard sticks), tape measure, 20 large paper envelopes (C5 or C4/Letter-sized ones will do), pencil (ink will smear if wet), digital camera.
- Identify populations of garlic mustard. A population is loosely defined as a group of plants that grow in a similar type of habitat and are separated from other groups by at least 1 km. It can be a few scattered individuals, a dense stand that covers hundreds of square meters, or a very long strip of plants along a road. If possible, try to include at least one population in low light (e.g. forest understory), and one in high light (e.g. forest edge or roadside). Multiple populations are ideal, particularly if several populations are small (< 10m diameter). Please use only populations that contain at least 20 plant individuals.
- Collect data on plant sizes and densities.
- Identify and measure first-year rosettes and second-year flowering adults separately (...more).
- Collect seeds for potential future experiments.
This is a project of:
Funded by
