It's the end of the world as we know it - Lygodium microphyllum is
strangling the Everglades Restoration Project
Patrick Gleason, Amy Ferriter and Ken Rutchey
South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, FL
Antionio Pernas and Bob Doren
Department of Interior, Miami, FL
Bob Pemberton
United States Department of Agriculture, Davie, FL
John Volin
Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL
Ken Langeland
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Lygodium microphyllum is a climbing fern native to wet tropical and subtropical
regions of the Old World. First detected as naturalized in Martin County, FL in
1965, it has become a serious weed in the state. Hundreds of Everglades tree
islands in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and thousands of acres of
remote wilderness areas of Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National
Preserve and Jonathan Dickinson State Park and are ravaged by this aggressive
exotic species. L. microphyllum is also expanding its range northward, becoming
increasingly common in the Kissimmee River Valley and the bay swamps of the
Lake Placid area. The species has recently been noted along the Peace River and
along Hillsborough County’s Little Manatee River.
Previous experience with other highly invasive plants (such as Melaleuca
quinquenervia) has shown that plant populations tend to reach a “critical mass” of
coverage and then begin an exponential rate of expansion, often spreading faster
than management efforts can be effectively instituted. L. microphyllum has
reached such a critical mass in South Florida, and threatens to jeopardize the
Everglades Restoration Project. Current control methods are inadequate and
biological controls need to be quickly developed and applied to attempt to bring
this invasive species under control. The exponential spread of Lygodium has
immense potential impact on Everglades ecology including future wading bird
populations that depend on tree islands for nesting.
Patrick Gleason, South Florida Water Management District 1601 Belvedere Road,
Suite 211 South, West Palm Beach, FL 33406, Phone: 561-689-3336, Fax: 561689-9713, gleasonpj@cdm.com