Throughout the Pacific Northwest, invasive plants threaten rivers and the ecosystem services they provide, a risk that climate change may exacerbate. In a new webinar held earlier this week, researchers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the University of Washington shared findings from two related studies from their collaborative, NW CASC-supported project, Integrating Economics and Ecology to Inform Climate-Ready Invasive Species Management in Pacific Northwest Rivers.
In the first study, the research team developed a modeling framework for projecting habitat suitability for invasive plants under future climate scenarios. This framework was applied to water-primrose species’ (Ludwigia spp.) distributions in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, and to knotweed species’ (Reynoutria spp.) distributions in the Washington Coastal Basins, demonstrating the flexibility of this framework for applications across taxa and geography.
In the second study, the team developed a bioeconomic model of invasive species management, which captures the potential number of new individuals being introduced downstream and differences in predicted, future habitat suitability across river sections. The model highlights how changes in habitat conditions in one location can have cascading effects on management throughout a river system. The model is parameterized using data from water-primrose management in the Willamette River Basin.
The results from these studies can help managers evaluate which aquatic invasive species are most likely to expand under climate change and which communities are most likely to face rising management costs, allowing them to better distribute limited resources across Pacific Northwest river basins.