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Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) Invasion in the Northern Great Plains: A Story of Rapid Dominance in an Endangered Ecosystem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Edward S. DeKeyser ,
Lauren A. Dennhardt  and
John Hendrickson
Edward S. DeKeyser*
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Management Program, School of Natural Resource Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
Lauren A. Dennhardt
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
John Hendrickson
Affiliation:
Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 459, Mandan, ND 58554
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Kentucky bluegrass was introduced into the present-day United States in the 1600s. Since that time, Kentucky bluegrass has spread throughout the United States and Canada becoming prolific in some areas. In the past century, Kentucky bluegrass has been a presence and often a dominant species in some prairies in the Northern Great Plains. Sometime within the past few decades, Kentucky bluegrass has become the most-common species on the untilled, native prairie sites of much of North and South Dakota. In this article, we hypothesize how Kentucky bluegrass has come to dominate one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America—the prairie—through a historical, ecological, and climatological lens. We urge others to start addressing the invasion of Kentucky bluegrass with both new research and management strategies.

Keywords

Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis L.Climate changeecosystem impactshistory of invasionintroduced speciesinvasionNorthern Great Plains
Type
Research Article
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 255 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

References

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