What’s on the menu? Climate-smart invasive species management!

E.M. Colberg, T.L. Morelli, & C.J. Brown-Lima (2024). Guidelines for Climate-Smart Invasive Species Management for the Northeast. NE RISCC Management Network. https://doi.org/10.7298/2nqt-1s83

Written by Eva Colberg, edited by Thomas Nuhfer

Summary

Climate change and invasive species pose challenges to the planning and implementation of ecosystem management and restoration, but it can be difficult to know where to start when natural resource management already faces capacity constraints. A new resource from NE RISCC, “Guidelines for Climate-Smart Invasive Species Management,” serves as a starting point by providing a menu of climate-smart invasive species management options which invasive species practitioners in the Northeastern U.S. and Canada can choose from and adapt into their own work. The guidelines also highlight areas where policy, funding, and research can further facilitate and support the implementation of climate-smart invasive species management. Invasive species management can directly contribute to ecosystem resilience and climate change adaptation goals, however, achieving these goals may require revising invasive management objectives and approaches. Individuals and organizations can better implement climate-smart invasive species management by explicitly considering the ways in which climate change interacts with invasive species management.

Take home points

  • “Climate-smart invasive species management” considers and aims to reduce the interactive effects of climate change and invasions through strategy and action. 

  • Climate-smart invasive species management varies with ecological and organizational contexts, but common themes include thinking about the future, being flexible, and learning by doing.

Management implications

  • Explicitly incorporating climate change and invasive species into organizational language can help ensure the challenges from both phenomena and their interactions are routinely addressed. 

  • Implementing and monitoring multiple management options can inform adaptive management by allowing comparison of how different approaches work across environmental gradients.

  • Beyond direct targeting and removal of invasive species, complementary techniques such as restoration planting and ungulate control can support climate-smart invasive species management by reducing co-occurring stressors, boosting native resilience, and reducing the invasibility of existing ecosystems.

Related papers: Bradley et al. 2023

Keywords

Novel introduction pathways, Climate extremes, Shifting seasons (phenology), Range expansion, Changing biotic interactions (competitiveness), Management efficacy, Impact studies, Climate adaptation, Strategic planning, Restoration