Past Webcasts

Using plants to control buckthorn

(11am CT, 10am MT, 9am PT)

Management of common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is often ineffective since buckthorn resprouts prolifically from damaged stems and rapidly re-establishes from seed. At experimental buckthorn removal sites throughout Minnesota, the Cover It Up! project has found that re-establishing dense native revegetation can limit invasion by buckthorn and other exotic plants through strong competition for light. Now in its ninth year, the project continues to yield new insights into how, when, and where native plants can best reduce invasion and improve forest health more broadly. In this episode, our guest will focus on the diversity of revegetation approaches examined and comparing the outcomes of those different approaches.

Guest

Mike Schuster

University of Minnesota

Researcher

Mike Schuster is a Researcher in the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center. His research focuses on the process of exotic plant invasions, their consequences for ecosystem functioning, and methods of biodiversity management. Since 2016, Mike has led the Cover It Up! project, which evaluates novel revegetation approaches to forest understories intended to increase biotic resistance and reduce invasion of buckthorn and other exotic woody species.