Dating an Alien

PART I: Exotic Invaders

According to the National Park Service web site, “Weeds Gone Wild” are invasive species that:

• Have invaded natural habitat
• Have been introduced to new areas outside of their native ranges
• Are also referred to as “alien”, “exotic”, “non-native”, and “non-indigenous”
• Are able to crowd out native species when introduced to new habitats
• Are capable of reproducing and spreading rapidly because they are free from the natural controls present in their native lands
  

Discuss the following questions with your team and be prepared to present to the class:

     1.  How would an alien plant species get to Connecticut in the first place?

     2. How would an alien plant interfere with the existing ecosystem? In other words, what problems could it cause?

• Give two examples that support your ideas
  

     3. What factors do you think might allow an invasive plant species to push out other plant species? What characteristics of the invasive plant and/or the existing ecosystem could allow this to happen?

     4. Visit the National Park Service’s “Weeds Gone Wild” Web site to better understand the problem of “invasives”: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/

• Select “The Invasive Problem” to check your responses to items 1, 2 & 3 above.
  

• Make additions or edits to those items as necessary using a different colored writing utensil!

PART II: An Alien of Your Own

• Visit the USDA Plants Database (http://plants.usda.gov/) to identify and describe a specific invasive plant species found in Connecticut. Look at the right-hand margin and select, “Learn about noxious and invasive plants."
• The select, “State Noxious Weed Lists” and then select, “Connecticut”
• Browse the species list and select an alien plant species to investigate. Click on the scientific name to find out more about it!
• Double-check with your teacher – make sure that the plant species you’ve selected is a good choice and that no other student has chosen the same one. Here is a list of invasive species in Connecticut for which the UConn herbarium has the largest number of specimens (this will become important later).
  
• Identify and summarize the characteristics that are unique to your invasive plant species and download two or three photographs of the plant
• Remember to save/record all URLs and references!
• Organize a “Magazine Cover” (using the rubric and samples provided as guides.) The cover must contain the following components:

• Accurate information about the invasive species
• All references organized in a bibliography
• Four creative and informational magazine “story” summaries
• At least one photograph of your alien species
• Creative titles and “story” summaries
• Organized and attractive (i.e. professionally done) features on the cover 
• Correct spelling & grammar
• Evidence that the information was translated from the original sources and  was well-understood.

         

PART III: The First Date!

• Go to:  http://bgbaseserver.eeb.uconn.edu
• Select “Virtual Herbarium”
• Select “Search the Herbarium database
• Carry out a query for your selected alien species
• Note: Use its SCIENTIFIC name!
• Click on the hotlink for “Map the request in the Berkeley Mapper”
• ZOOM toConnecticut (Double click on the state or use the drawing tool at the top of the map)
• Click on “Show point records” (This will appear below the map itself.)
  

• Click on the “Up” arrowhead next to the Year column heading, which will sort your specimens from earliest to latest

• Use any graphing program to graph how the number of specimens has changed over time, using the following divisions for years: “Before 1900” “1900 to 1950” “1950 to Present”

• What was the earliest date (year) showing a record of your alien plant species in Connecticut?  _____________

• Is it possible that your plant species was present in CT before that date? Explain your answer!

• What trend, if any, exists with regard to the number of plants identified in each year category? (Be sure to refer to the data!)

• Post your graph on the wall alongside those of your peers. Which invasive species had the greatest numbers in the time period “Before 1900”?

• Which invasive species had the greatest numbers during the time period "1950 to Present"?

• There are many reasons for the differences that you noted in the two previous questions. Identify and carefully explain why some species are more represented in one time category than in another.

• Develop two new questions about your chosen invasive species that could probably be answered using a mapping program.