Georgian Court scientists receive research grant

LAKEWOOD - Georgian Court University has been awarded a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant program to conduct scientific research on and around the dunes of New Jersey, to study the effects of a non-native dune plant, Carex kobomugi, commonly known as Asiatic sand sedge.

According to a press release from the university, with nationwide scientific impact, the research project will ultimately help to ensure healthy dune and maritime forest ecosystems around the United States.

"We were awarded $146,058 by Sea Grant to continue our research on invasive species on the dunes and to start some new research looking at how the grass is affecting the animals that live on dunes, as well as to look for any predictable patterns in the way in which the sedge is spreading," said Louise Wootton, a Georgian Court University professor of biology and the lead researcher on the project.

Wootton explained that the initial research project began six years ago with an effort to map the invasive weed, which is native to Japan, China, Korea and Russia, and to determine if it was having any effects on native plant communities. Asiatic sand sedge is thought to have been introduced to the United States when ships from Asia offloaded solid ballast prior to entering New York harbor to collect a cargo to be taken back to Asia. The species can now be found up and down the U.S. coastline from Massachusetts to South Carolina, as well as in coastal dunes in Oregon and Washington, according to the press release.

Though it was purposely planted in the 1960s and 1970s as a way to stabilize sand dunes, scientists now realize that C. kobomugi's prolific growth has very negative effects on the nation's coastal ecosystem.

During the few years of the project, Wootton and her team of scientists and students walked much of the New Jersey coastline using satellite technology to map the exact whereabouts of the sedge. Now they are out on the beaches again, tracking where the plant has spread, as well as studying its effects on the native animal species.

"As scientists, we know that it is eliminating native plant species," Wootton says of C. kobomugi. "Our earlier research showed it has a negative effect on both the abundance and diversity of native dune plants, but what does it mean for the animals in the ecosystem? Are they just happy that there is a plant there and don't care? Or does the invasive species have a negative effect on the rest of the habitat? It's not something scientists know a lot about, not just for this species, but for invasive plants in general."

Therefore, she continued, one of the major goals of this project is to ascertain what the effects of the sedge's invasion are on the ecosystem, beyond the plant kingdom.

"We want to compare every creepycrawly in dunes where native species are growing with those of the dunes where the invasive sedge has taken over," she said. "We go out to the beaches with insect nets and traps, and then we spend hours and

hours in the lab identifying and counting what we caught. This is really challenging since there is an enormous number of arthropod species present on dunes, and many of them are smaller than a period on a page."

So far they have come up with two creatures for which the entomologist has no classification - arthropods that are potentially new, previously undiscovered species.

"The other thing we are doing is remapping everything that we originally mapped," Wootton explained. "We know where the sedge was, but we don't know how fast it is growing. We need to get an accurate sense of how fast it's expanding to be able to anticipate where it may spread in the future."

This is important to protect endangered species or habitats that might be threatened by the species' growth, according to the press release.

The third part of the project is a longterm monitoring program to see how the invasion of this plant is affecting the dune height and dune growth, an important topic not just to scientists, but to coastal area homeowners whose property is protected by dunes during storms.

"People have said dunes that are invaded by the species tend to be lower than dunes with native species," said Wootton, adding that no scientific data currently exists to back up that claim.

She said, "the American beach grass, the most common native plant on the dune, is tall - at least up to your knees. The Asiatic Sand Sedge is a much lower plant, with its leaves usually reaching only up to your ankles."

So it is thought that a low plant would collect less sand, making for shorter dunes. She hopes to end speculation on the matter by providing scientific evidence as to the height and growth patterns of sand dunes inhabited by the non-native sedge relative to those where the native species still prevail.

The final stage of the research program will come about next July when Georgian Court will convene a conference focusing on invasive plant species affecting dune and coastal maritime habitats of the Atlantic coast.

The conference will target park managers, scientists and personnel from agencies like the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as nursery plant growers to educate them on the importance of planting native species at homes along the coast.

"These are very precious habitats," Wootton said. "There is nowhere else like this on the whole continent. They are a tiny percentage of the whole ecosystem of the United States, and they have been built on a lot, so the few pieces we have left we want to maintain."