RE: [RC] Interesting article on Spread of Weeds by Horses - Kristen A Fisher
I know this reply is
about 2 weeks old but I have been confined to reading revenue-related emails and
not RC so I am just catching up on this. Can someone remind me what grants AERC has funded to to
similar studies and where? I thought the Grant Committee had approved something
like this a while back and can't remember the details - it would be interesting
to compare procedures and results.
Also, it seems weird to
me that all the "alien invaders" they reference are from other *continents*. I
would suspect that horses are not the ones bringing these weeds from
abroad???
And just to throw in a
ringer, I saw a feature about this issue on TV a few months ago:
Granted, this is more of
a cash crop than noxious weeds, but the irrigation and terracing systems they
are carving into the land are very disturbing - along with the automatic
weapons.
FWIW
Kristen in
TX
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
KimFue@xxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 5:16
PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Interesting
article on Spread of Weeds by Horses
Who Spreads the Weeds? Don't Bet on the
Horse Study of how nonnative plants invade parkland focuses on the
long-held notion that manure carries the seeds. So far, it looks like a
myth.
By Andrew H. Malcolm, Times Staff Writer January 20,
2006
Alien invaders
Public land managers are trying to stem the
spread of invasive plants, which are referred to as noxious weeds. Most of
the weeds listed below spread quickly and displace native
vegetation.
Puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris), from Mediterranean
region Yellow star thistle (Centaurea solstitialis), from southern
Europe. Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), from Eurasia Diffuse knapweed
(Centaurea diffusa), from southeast Eurasia Gorse (Ulex europaeus), from
Western Europe Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius), from southern Europe,
northern Africa
