A New Screening
Process for
Christiana Conser
Invasiveness
Project Scientist
PlantRight, Sustainable Conservation
Invasive Ornamental Plant Symposium
Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL
October 3, 2013
Economic
impact of
nursery and
landscape
Source: CANGC 2010
industry
CA’s Top 20 Commodies
(sales and rank values (2002-2008)
CA Nursery & Floral Sales
(Total and as a % of Total Ag Sales)
Drivers of New Plant
Global Trade
Technological
Introductions
• Advances in plant breeding
and propagation
Regional
• New housing starts
• Consumer demand
• Interest in novel and exotic
plants
• Increased demand for
xeriscaping
• Water restrictions
• Adaptations to climate change
scenarios
Bradley et al. 2011
Rate of new plant
Number of commercially available cultivars
introductions
(1987
to 2008)
105,000
20,000
Drew et al. 2010
Historical
Invasive Plant
% of Total Invasive Plants Accidentally or
Intentionally Introduced for
to California
Pathways
2%
California Horticultural/ornamental
13%
Seed/other contaminant
48%
37%
Dye, medicinal, forage
Aquarium trade
Bell 2007
What is an
Invasive Plant?
A plant that does not naturally
occur in a specific region but
whose introduction causes or is
likely to cause harm to the
environment, economy or to human
health.
Photo | California Invasive Plant Council,
Beth Hendrickson
What is not
an Invasive
Plant?
Non-native ornamental plants
Garden weeds
Comparison of Invasive
and Ornamental Traits
•
Invasive
Broad
germination
Traits
•
Ornamental
Abundant flowers
Traits
•
Establish rapidly
•
Easy to propagate
•
Use up limited resources
•
Grows quickly
•
Weather/soil tolerant
•
Weather/soil tolerant
•
Resistant to pests and
disease
•
Resistant to pests and
disease
Photo | California Invasive Plant Council, Beth Hendrickson
Photo | UC Davis Arboretum
Weed Risk
Australian WRA
Assessment
• 49 Questions
• Biogeography/Historical
• Domestication/Cultivation
• Climate and Distribution
• Weed Elsewhere
• Biology/Ecology
• Undesirable Traits
• Plant Type
• Reproduction
• Dispersal Mechanisms
• Persistence Attributes
• Used in Australia & other
parts of the world
Photo | AQIS
Pheloung et al. 1999
Weed Risk
Comparison of global WRA model accuracy
Assessment
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
All WRA’s
have low
accuracy for
non-invasive
plants
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Invasive Plants
Non-Invasive Plants
Weed Risk
USDA-APHIS-PPQ
Assessment
• Revised Q37 (NAPPRA-Not allow
pending risk assessment)
• All nursery stock requires a pre-import
risk analysis
• Evaluate the ability of a species to
spread outside cultivation
• APHIS WRA modeled from
Australia’s WRA
• Impact on imports for nursery
industry unknown
Koop et al. 2011
PlantRight Plant
WRA adapted for screening ornamental plants
Risk
Evaluation
• High accuracy for non-invasive plants
•(PRE)
Predict regional invasiveness
• Screen sterile and non-sterile cultivars
• Screen plants early in the R&D process
• Rapid screenings, quick results
• Provide real-time risk assessment for
invasiveness
• Updated with new information as it
becomes available
Photo | UC Davis Arboretum
PlantRight Plant
Types of screening questions
Risk
Evaluation
• Taxonomy
• Cultivar names
•(PRE)
Invasive history in CA, US,
•
•
•
•
•
•
world
Climate suitability for CA
Difficulty of control
Negative environmental
impacts
Reproductive strategies
Dispersal
Growth rate
Photo | UC Davis Arboretum
PlantRight Plant
Screening Procedure & Data Collection
Risk Evaluation
(PRE)
Protocol adapted from Gordon et al. 2010
PlantRight Plant
PlantRight PRE Scoring
Risk Evaluation
(PRE)
Invasive>19
Non-invasive<14
Evaluate Further=15-18
PlantRight Plant
Comparison with Australian WRA model
Risk Evaluation
(PRE)
Non-Invasive
Invasive
100%
90%
80%
70%
PlantRight
PRE had high
accuracy for
non-invasive
plants
60%
Evaluator 1
50%
Evaluator 2
40%
Evaluator 3
30%
20%
10%
0%
PlantRight
PRE
Australian
WRA
PlantRight
PRE
Australian
WRA
PlantRight Plant
Comparison with other WRA models
Risk Evaluation
(PRE)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
PlantRight
PRE has
highest
accuracy for
non-invasive
plants
30%
20%
Invasive Plants
10%
0%
Non-Invasive
Plants
PRE (Plant Risk Evaluation)
TOOL
Protocol adapted from Gordon et al. 2010
PRE (Plant Risk Evaluation)
TOOL
Invasive>19
Non-invasive<14
Evaluate Further=15-18
PRE (Plant Risk Evaluation)
TOOL
Taxonomy
Cultivar names
Invasive history
Climate suitability
Difficulty of control
Negative
environmental impacts
• Reproductive strategies
• Dispersal
• Growth rate
•
•
•
•
•
•
OPPORTUNITIES | BENEFICIAL INFO
Current taxonomy and synonyms
Ornamental and cultivation
history, medicinal uses, etc.
Native range and regional
climatic suitability information
OPPORTUNITIES | BENEFICIAL INFO
Growth, reproduction and
dispersal characteristics
Ecological information re:
garden suitability
Patent information
PlantRight Plant
Add Climate Modeling To Evaluate the Regional
Riskof Evaluation
Suitability
Plants
(PRE)
+
PlantRight Plant
Develop a Web-Based Tool and Database
Risk Evaluation
(PRE)
MS-Excel
Web-accessible database
Propagators
Growers
Plant
Breeders
Plant
Buyers
Arboreta
PlantRight
PRE
Plant
Prospectors
Retail
Nurseries
Botanical
Gardens
PlantRight Plant
Develop Rapid Screening (RS) Tool
Risk
Evaluation
Screen
most common
plants in ornamental trade
(PRE)
PlantRight Pre-PRE rapid screening
tool
Water Use Classification of
Ornamental Landscape Species
(WUCOLS)
Christiana
Conser
PlantRight Project Scientist
Sustainable Conservation
cconser@ucdavis.edu
www.PlantRigh
rg