Concern over the increasing spread of invasive species and the potential impacts of those species on native communities has been the subject of several books and hundreds of research papers in recent years. President Clinton\u27s Executive Order on invasive species in February1999 raised national attention to this issue. Natural resource agencies have been plagued by an ever-increasing number of invasive species and now consider this issue the second most important problem (after habitat loss) in their fight to maintain some semblance of natural communities on this planet. One group of experts estimated that in the United States alone, invasives cost more than $100 billion annually (Pimentel et al. 2000). As the global economy continues to grow, it is reasonable to assume that this problem will increase in its severity as additional species extend their ranges

Bernstein, Neil P.

Dinsmore, James J.

English

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Invasive Species in Iowa: An Introduction

University of Northern Iowa

The Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIASVolume 108 | Number Article 312-2001Invasive Species in Iowa: An IntroductionJames J. DinsmoreIowa State UniversityNeil P. BernsteinMount Mercy CollegeCopyright © Copyright 2001 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uni.edu/jiasPart of the Anthropology Commons, Life Sciences Commons, Physical Sciences andMathematics Commons, and the Science and Mathematics Education CommonsThis General Interest Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Journal of theIowa Academy of Science: JIAS by an authorized editor of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu.Recommended CitationDinsmore, James J. and Bernstein, Neil P. (2001) "Invasive Species in Iowa: An Introduction," The Journal of the Iowa Academy ofScience: JIAS: Vol. 108: No. 4 , Article 3.Available at: http://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol108/iss4/3lour. Iowa Acad. Sci. 108(4):105-106, 2001 Invasive Species in Iowa: An Introduction JAMES]. DINSMORE 1 and NEIL P. BERNSTEJN2 1 Department of Animal Ecology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 2Department of Biology, Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 Concern over the increasing spread of invasive species and the potential impacts of those species on native communities has been the subject of several books and hundreds of research papers in recent years. President Clinton's Executive Order on invasive species in Feb-ruary 1999 raised national attention to this issue. Natural resource agencies have been plagued by an ever-increasing number of invasive species and now consider this issue the second most important prob-lem (after habitat loss) in their fight to maintain some semblance of natural communities on this planet. One group of experts estimated that in the United Srates alone, invasives cost more than $100 billion annually (Pimentel et al. 2000). As the global economy continues to grow, it is reasonable to assume that this problem will increase in its severity as additional species extend their ranges. In Iowa, the issue has received increased recognition and concern as species after species has been identified as a problem for natural communities. A small sampling of some of the problem species iden-tified include leafy spurge, garlic mustard, purple loosestrife, Eur-asian water milfoil, zebra mussels, bighead carp, and mute swan. This ignores several well-established invasive species such as house sparrow, European starling, rock dove, house mouse, Norway rat, feral domestic cats, and common carp, some of which have been around for more than a century to which we have adjusted to living. Plants in particular seem to be a major source of concern. Garden stores are full of non-native plants and seeds that we willingly plant in our yards and' flowerbeds. Although most of these species have shown little evidence of becoming invasive and pose little threat to natural communities, we have no good way of knowing which ones will pose a threat in the future. The few that do become a problem threaten the integrity of natural areas purchased to preserve natural flora and fauna. Besides the threats that the plants themselves pose, there is also the threat of invasive animals either attached to the plants or in the soil around their roots, leading to additional prob-lems. Already gypsy moths have reached Iowa this way several times, and it seems inevitable that eventually that species will get a foot-hold in the state. Clearly the problem is not going to go away on its own. The issue is nor confined to natural communities. In particular, agriculture has also faced an every growing number of new problem species that threaten crops, nursery stock, and livestock. One has to only consider such issues as European corn borers, gypsy moths, and soybean aphids to gain some comprehension of the scope of the prob-lem. In Iowa alone, agriculture's losses to invasive species easily amounts to tens of millions of dollars yearly. Clearly the issue is important for Iowans although many of our citizens are not aware of it. It was against this background that we began working on this symposium. In the summer of 1999, we met in Toledo, Iowa, and discussed the possibility of organizing a meeting on invasive species in Iowa. Our goals were relatively simple. We hoped to assemble a broad range of people who had an interest in the issue of invasive species and provide a forum in which they could learn about and discuss the issue of invasive species as it related to problems in Iowa. With the end of the century approaching, it seemed like a good time for Iowans to exam the issues, assess the extent and distribution of invasive species in Iowa, and provide a benchmark for coming gen-erations. We also hoped that by doing so, we could provide a spark that would lead to further work in this field in Iowa. We started with the premise that the Iowa Academy of Science would be involved with whatever meeting we arranged. As we dis-cussed some of the issues related to invasives, we quickly realized that the usual format for symposia sponsored by the Iowa Academy of Science would not do justice to the topic. Those symposia, often confined to a half-day session or spread out into several sessions over the two-day IAS meeting, simply did not provide enough rime for the range of topics that we hoped to cover. We soon realized that we needed to consider having a separate symposium that was con-fined to the topic of invasives if we were to do the topic justice. Neil presented this idea to the Iowa Academy of Science in fall, 1999, and received their strong support. As we talked, several other ideas soon surfaced and became part of the plan. One was to include at least a few speakers who had a national perspective on the problem. By doing so, we hoped to make our audience in Iowa aware of the broad extent of the problem and some of the actions that were being taken to control some invasive species elsewhere. We also realized that we needed to provide plenty of time for discussion, both during the paper sessions and in orga-nized discussion sessions. We hoped that by stimulating discussion, we could interest some of the participants into formally organizing a group that would continue work on invasive species. Finally we thought that it would be worthwhile to try to collect formal papers from most of the speakers and to have these published as single issue of the Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science. This had been done previously for symposia on the Loess Hills (Farrar et al. 1985) and for two symposia on Iowa's declining fauna and flora (Farrar 1981, Murel 1998). The meeting was held on 6-7 October 2000 at the Iowa State Center on the Iowa State University Campus in Ames with a total of 19 presentations on the program. It was soon apparent that the speakers had much to say and that even with extra time designated for discussion, there was not enough rime for all of the questions that were raised. Even the break times were too short for the lively discussion that occurred. Although attendance was a somewhat dis-appointing 125, it was encouraging to see that there was a broad mix of individuals with plant and animal interests as well as indi-viduals from natural resource agencies, non-government organiza-tions, colleges and universities, private citizens, and a few from the 106 JOUR. IOWA ACAD. SCI. 108(2001) agricultural community. The first day and a half were confined to formal papers covering a broad range of topics related to invasives. Breakout sessions were planned for the second afternoon with the intent of collecting ideas on where to go next and, hopefully, plan-ning for some future work. As we began that session, it soon became apparent that most people present already had some notion that they wanted something to continue to happen with invasives, probably in the form of a central committee that would develop a more or-ganized approach to the problems of invasives in Iowa. Two attend-ees, John Walkowiak of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and John Haanstad of Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in a presentation earlier in the program had described an existing group that was interested in the problems of forest in-sects. They indicated a willingness to expand that group into a broader Invasive Species Council for Iowa. It was apparent that we had some focus for the future and the conference concluded with the selection of several attendees to work with Walkowiak and Haanstad on developing such a council. Perhaps some of the haste at the end of the meeting was spurred by the arrival of hoards of red-clad Uni-versity of Nebraska football fans. Many used the hallway outside our meeting room as shelter from the somewhat cold afternoon wind and they also were eyeing the soda and cookies that had been put in the hallway for our upcoming break! So, how did this all turn out? The publication of this volume fulfills one of the goals of our meeting. Bernstein has cajoled, threat-ened, and in other ways been able to assemble many of the papers resulting from the meeting. We believe that these will provide a lasting statement on the issue of invasives in Iowa, both by docu-menting what invasives are established in Iowa and by pointing out some of the management steps that already are taking place. Perhaps some other group in future years will use this volume as a benchmark in assessing the role of invasives in Iowa's fauna and flora and in evaluating our progress in attacking the problems these species pre-sent. Careful readers will note that several topics are not covered. A few speakers chose not to prepare papers for this publication. Their topics included freshwater mussels, leafy spurge, and introduced mammals. In addition, we decided not to deal with domestic and agricultural species at this symposium. Both groups are important in Iowa's econ-omy and in the issues related to invasive species, but we simply did not have enough time to cover them adequately. We hope that they will receive the attention that they deserve in the future. The Invasive Species Council, which received a starting boost at the symposium, has been active over the past year. The members have met several times and organized a tour of some areas with invasive species problems and control efforts this past summer. They also are now beginning plans for a second statewide conference for September 2002. We all know that the challenges are great and that the problems will not go away quickly. However, we believe that we in Iowa are off to a good start in meeting these issues. As you read the pages in this volume, we hope that you will gain a better un-derstanding of some of these challenges and that you will join others in finding a way to meet them. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In addition to acknowledgements of funding within each paper, we are grateful to the following organizations for providing financial support for our conference: Iowa Academy of Science, U.S. Geological Survey (Biological Resources), Iowa Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Iowa Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Iowa Natural History Association, Iowa Chapter of The American Fisheries Society, Iowa Native Plant Society, and the De-partment of Animal Ecology of Iowa State University. We are also grateful to David McCalley, Lynn Brant, Jane Vanderlinden, and Brenda Van Beck who helped in many ways to make the meeting a success. LITERATURE CITED FARRAR, D. R. 1981. Perspectives on Iowa's declining flora and fauna: a symposium. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science 88:1. FARRAR, D.R., D. M. ROOSA, and]. C. PRIOR. 1985. Iowa's loess hills: a national treasure. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science 92: 157-158. MUTEL, C. F. 1998. Introduction ro the 1997 symposium on Iowa"s de-clining flora and fauna. Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science 105:33-34. PIMENTEL, D., L. LACH, R. ZUNIGA, and D. MORRISON. 2000. En-vironmental and economic costs of nonindigenous species in the United States. BioScience 50:53-65. 

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