Life Sciences Commons^™

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata) Management Effectiveness And Plant Community Response, Erin Coates-Connor

Masters Theses

The control and eradication of the invasive biennial herb garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and the restoration of invaded forest habitats present important linked challenges to land managers in North America. Removing garlic mustard by hand and by glyphosate herbicide application have both been used as eradication strategies with mixed results. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, but they are rarely compared for effectiveness and community impact across multiple years of management. Some previous studies have shown improvements in species diversity and plant community composition following management, while others have found no differences. To better understand both garlic mustard …

Integrating Cover Crop Mixtures And No-Till For Sustainable Sweet Corn Production In The Northeast, Julie S. Fine

Masters Theses

Fall-planted forage radish (Raphanus sativus L. longipinnatus) cover crops have shown successful weed suppression and recycling of fall-captured nutrients. This research evaluated the nutrient cycling and weed suppressive benefits of forage radish cover crop mixtures to develop an integrated system for no-till sweet corn (Zea mays L. var rugosa) production that improves crop yield and soil health. Treatments included forage radish (FR), oats (Avena sativa L.) and forage radish (OFR), a mixture of peas (Pisum sativum subsp arvense L.), oats and forage radish (POFR), and no cover crop control (NCC). Subplots were assigned to …

Chemically Mediated Interactions Between Hosts, Parasitic Plants And Insect Herbivores, Muvari C. Tjiurutue

Doctoral Dissertations

Species interactions, by changing phenotypic traits, can alter the outcome of subsequent interactions. Plant-mediated responses to herbivores have been extensively studied, but little is known about plant-mediated responses involving parasitic plants within a broader community context that also includes herbivores. Because parasitic plants are important components of many ecosystems and can shape community structure, it is important to understand how host-mediated interactions influence parasite preference and success. The goal of this thesis is to examine interactions between hosts, parasitic plants and herbivores mediated by chemical traits. We first examined the effects of dodder (Cuscuta sp.) parasitism on induced defenses …

Understory Plant Community Structure In Forests Invaded By Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata), Jason Aylward

Masters Theses

ABSTRACT

UNDERSTORY PLANT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN FORESTS INVADED BY GARLIC MUSTARD (ALLIARIA PETIOLATA)

MAY 2016

JASON ALLEN AYLWARD, B.S., PAUL SMITH’S COLLEGE

M.S. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

Directed by: Professor Kristina Stinson

Plant invasions represent a significant threat to the structure and function of natural ecosystems. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) has been identified as a threat to native communities mostly through small-scale studies and focused experiments. In this in situ observational study I examined the effects of garlic mustard invasion on species composition across multiple sites by comparing plant diversity and composition in invaded and adjacent …