The central focus of Natural Biodiversity is invasive plant management. Early detection of invasive plant populations is vital to natural areas. In 2008, Natural Biodiversity developed an innovative approach to early detection and rapid response by utilizing a unique combination of landscape-based invasive plant prediction modeling and prioritization, coupled with locations of our most important natural features that need to be protected from invasive plants.
The landscape-based invasive species predictive model was developed in 2005 by the Natural Resource Analysis Center at West Virginia University for Natural Biodiversity. This model was based on multivariate statistical correlations between landscape characteristics and identified locations of invasive plant species.
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The prioritized invasive plant system was developed in 2008 by Natural Biodiversity. The system utilizes life history characteristics which contribute to a plant’s invasiveness, the effects on invaded ecosystems, and the resources required to control the invasive plant, all to determine which invasive plant problems need to be handled first, second, and so on.
This approach is an important tool in locating the most threatening satellite populations of invasive plants. Our years of experience indicate that early detection of an invasive plant population can lead to eradication and the restoration of the invaded site with minimal resources directed toward management.
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