Friday, June 27, 2003

Spartina: Native and Invasive

From Tide Pool comes this story about ongoing research in California to determine the cause and impact of the invasion of estuaries by salt marsh cord grass. (Spartina alterniflora). While native to the east coast of the U.S., S. alterniflora has caused major problems where it has been introduced on the west coast, and is now a fixture of Willapa and San Francisco Bays. A grant was awarded to researchers at U.C. Davis, who are also studying potential biological controls such as Prokelisia marginata (Bonus points to Tide Pool for using the scientific name.)

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