Perseverance of management is needed – Efficient long-term strategy of Reynoutria management

Abstract

One of the most problematic invasive species in Europe are knotweeds from genus Reynoutria (Fallopia) which have significant negative impact on the native communities as well on human activities. Therefore, they are a target of many control programmes. Due to their high regeneration potential, their management is problematic, and only chemical treatment is reported to be sufficiently effective. The aim of this paper was to describe and analyse the patterns of Reynoutria invasion under long-term chemical treatment with glyphosate-based herbicide in The Morávka river floodplain, Czech Republic. The data covers 17 years of management which started with the European project “Preservation of alluvial forest habitats in the Morávka river basin”. We focus on (i) assessment of Reynoutria distribution during long-term management, (ii) analysis of the change of distribution according to the habitat, and (iii) discussion of the optimal management strategy based on the long-term data. Distribution data was obtained using GNSS field mapping. Before the start of the study in 2007, Reynoutria stands covered 29% of the study area (96.9 ha). As a result of systematic whole area chemical management, the extent decreased to 19.6% (65.3 ha) in 2009, and even reached 14.5% (48.2 ha) in 2013, three years after its end. Due to implementation of local chemical management in the following years, the area of Reynoutria was maintained at similar level, with minimum value 41.8 ha in 2018 and a slight increase in recent mapping in 2023. Beside the extent, the structure and coverage of invaded sites was analysed. There was a clear trend of fragmentation of larger polycormons with high coverage into many smaller and less dense ones as a result of chemical spraying. The average size of Reynoutria stand decreased from 0.61 ha in 2007 to half in 2013 (0.32 ha) to 0.15 ha in 2023. Testing of the effects of time, habitat, and biotope did not reveal significant differences of changes of extent and abundance over different environments (forest, open, bare ground), which indicates that there are no differences in reaction to management in the studied habitat and vegetation types. Our study provides a robust and unique overview of the invasion, reinvasion, and suppression dynamics for an important invasive species. If herbicide management is used, chemical treatment must be quite long-term as even three years of intensive glyphosate foliar spray application was not sufficient for the complete eradication of Reynoutria. Therefore, we propose the following procedure for effective chemical management of Reynoutria: 1) In largely infested sites, the first step is to reduce the distribution of Reynoutria stands to isolated polycormons. This phase can last 3–5 years. 2) After reaching the state of sparse distribution of Reynoutria, we recommend herbicide application only in periods of every 3–5 years depending on the local context and rate of regrowth. 3) At sites exposed to soil disturbances, where the soil is contaminated by fragments of Reynoutria rhizomes, there is a need to apply herbicide immediately to target newly resprouting individuals.