Biomass recovery from invasive species management in wetlands

Spinelli, Raffaele; Magagnotti, Natascia; Francesco, Fabio De; Aminti, Giovanni; Stauder, Michael; Pari, Luigi

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.07.012

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…There has been some resistance fueled by fears that harvesting could result in the economic exploitation of coastal wetlands. However, the cost of harvesting is relatively high (e.g., Spinelli et al 2017), so any gain from the valuation of biomass may help offset costs, but will not realistically produce a profit that could drive management decisions. Nevertheless, it is critical that as this new source of biomass is developed, policies are created to ensure that invasive biomass harvesting is carefully designed, monitored, and regulated and the primary goal remains improving the biological diversity and integrity of natural ecosystems.…”

Section: Invasive Plant Harvesting To Promote Multiple Ecosystem Servmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvesting invasive plants to reduce nutrient loads and produce bioenergy: an assessment of Great Lakes coastal wetlands

et al. 2018

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In Laurentian Great Lakes coastal wetlands (GLCWs), dominant emergent invasive plants are expanding their ranges and compromising the unique habitat and ecosystem service values that these ecosystems provide. Herbiciding and burning to control invasive plants have not been effective in part because neither strategy addresses the most common root cause of invasion, nutrient enrichment. Mechanical harvesting is an alternative approach that removes tissue‐bound phosphorus and nitrogen and can increase wetland plant diversity and aquatic connectivity between wetland and lacustrine systems. In this study, we used data from three years of Great Lakes‐wide wetland plant surveys, published literature, and bioenergy analyses to quantify the overall areal extent of GLCWs, the extent and biomass of the three most dominant invasive plants, the pools of nitrogen and phosphorus contained within their biomass, and the potential for harvesting this biomass to remediate nutrient runoff and produce renewable energy. Of the approximately 212,000 ha of GLCWs, three invasive plants (invasive cattail, common reed, and reed canary grass) dominated 76,825 ha (36%). The coastal wetlands of Lake Ontario exhibited the highest proportion of invasive dominance (57%) of any of the Great Lakes, primarily from cattail. A single growing season's biomass of these invasive plants across all GLCWs was estimated at 659,545 metric tons: 163,228 metric tons of reed canary grass, 270,474 metric tons of common reed, and 225,843 metric tons of invasive cattail, and estimated to contain 10,805 and 1144 metric tons of nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. A one‐time harvest and utilization for energy of this biomass would provide the gross equivalent of 1.8 million barrels of oil if combusted, or 0.9 million barrels of oil if converted to biogas in an anaerobic digester. We discuss the potential for mitigating non‐point source nutrient pollution with invasive wetland plant removal, and other potential uses for the harvested biomass, including compost and direct application to agricultural soils. Finally, we describe the research and adaptive management program we have built around this concept, and point to current limitations to the implementation of large‐scale invasive plant harvesting.

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Section: Invasive Plant Harvesting To Promote Multiple Ecosystem Servmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvesting invasive plants to reduce nutrient loads and produce bioenergy: an assessment of Great Lakes coastal wetlands

et al. 2018

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“…Other examples of invasive alien plant-based phytoremediation include the utilization of their biomass to improve the degraded/marginal lands and also for biofuel generation, notably Eichhornia crassipes and Arundo donax, which have high calorific value (Ge et al 2016;Spinelli et al 2017;Rai 2019a). Giant reed has applications in the polymer industry due to its rich lignocellulosic biomass (Fiore et al 2014), and its use as a soil/sludge amendment can enhance agricultural productivity (Pelegrín et al 2018).…”

Section: Invasive Alien Plants In Environmental Remediation and Susta...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive alien plants and environmental remediation: a new paradigm for sustainable restoration ecology

Prabhat

Kim

2019

Restoration Ecology

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This article explores some fundamental aspects of ecological restoration dynamics when an ecosystem is exposed to and altered by environmental disturbances like invasive alien plants and metals/particulates. These dynamics are assessed in socioeconomic and phytoremediation terms with respect to the perspective of emerging nations (e.g. an Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot). In this short report, we discussed the positive ecological uses of invasive alien plants in remediation/restoration of the contaminated environment. Therefore, the impacts of invasive alien plants on the ecosystem are analyzed as prerequisite for remediation/restoration efforts. The utility of an integrated approach is proposed as a promising option to help restore or sustain the socioecological systems from diverse disturbances.

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Short-term impacts of Phragmites management on nutrient budgets and plant communities in Great Lakes coastal freshwater marshes

Judd

Francoeur

2018

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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Biomass recovery from invasive species management in wetlands

Cited by 5 publications

References 23 publications

Harvesting invasive plants to reduce nutrient loads and produce bioenergy: an assessment of Great Lakes coastal wetlands

Harvesting invasive plants to reduce nutrient loads and produce bioenergy: an assessment of Great Lakes coastal wetlands

Invasive alien plants and environmental remediation: a new paradigm for sustainable restoration ecology

Short-term impacts of Phragmites management on nutrient budgets and plant communities in Great Lakes coastal freshwater marshes

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