Invasive Species Management Mountains Restoration Trust Joseph - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Invasive Species Management Mountains Restoration Trust

Joseph Curti, Project Manager

Mountains Restoration Trust

Education - Cold Creek Docents and community based volunteer restoration projects Acquisition - 7000 acres preserved Restoration - 2000 acres restoration mrt@mountainstrust.org | (818)591-1701 | https://www.facebook.com/MountainsTrust/

My Background

Invasive Species - Overview

• Aggressive
• Environmental adaptability
• High fecundity

“Invasive species are plants, animals, or pathogens that are non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause harm.” - USDA

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundo_donax#Invasive_species) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_mud_snail) (https://www.hylawerkgroep.be/jeroen/index.php?id=49)

Invasive Species in our project sites

Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus Gree Sunfish - Lepomis cyanellis Mosquito fish - Gambusia affinis Largemouth Bass - Micropterus salmoides Red Swamp Crayfish - Procambarus clarkii

Red Swamp Crayfish

Impacts on stream

http://www.georgialifetraces.com/tag/crayfish/ http://e-ecodb.bas.bg/rdb/en/vol3/10C2.html

Macrophyte Clipping

http://e-ecodb.bas.bg/rdb/en/vol3/10C2.html

• Crayfish consumptively and

non-consumptively clip macrophytes

• In lake studies of signal crayfish, biomass and

richness of macrophytes reduced (Lodge and Lorman 2011)

• Can cause dramatic changes in light

attenuation, temperature, flow, deposition of fine sediments, retention of coarse detritus, and available nutrients and oxygen in the water (Carpenter and Lodge 1986)

Crayfish Burrowing Behavior

http://www.georgialifetraces.com/tag/crayfish/

• Burrowing and movement on streambed lead

to resuspension of nutrients and sediment

• Resuspension of sediments can lead to poor

water quality, decreased light penetration and decreased aquatic plant growth (Gherhardi 2007)

• Loss of fine sand particles can impact egg

survival in gravel breeding salmonids (Gherhardi 2007)

Impact on Natives

Crayfish holding treefrog tadpole

Impact on Natives

Crayfish holding treefrog tadpole

Impact on Natives

Crayfish holding treefrog tadpole

Effect of crayfish on California Newts

Tail clipping from California Newt by crayfish

(Davis et al 2017)

What we are doing

Las Virgenes Creek 210,337 crayfish removed since 2014 Medea Creek 66,451 crayfish removed since 2014

Mechanical Trapping

• Trapping 7 days a week at

two sites

• Traps are placed in pool or

run features in stream after monitoring for two weeks

• Medea Creek

○ 1.5 miles ○ 274 traps

• Las Virgenes Creek

○ 1.6 miles ○ 667 traps

○

Upper reaches cleared

• Seasonal biological surveys
• Dynamic mountain streams

Total Crayfish Removed

Total Crayfish Removed

Total Crayfish Removed

Trapping Success

Adult Newts in Malibu Creek Watershed Number of Newts

Trapping Success

Number of Egg Masses Egg Masses in Malibu Creek Watershed

Trapping Success

Newt Larvae in Malibu Creek Watershed Number of Newt Larvae

Water Quality Monitoring

1) Identify stream water quality in Medea and Las Virgenes Creeks before, during and after invasive Red Swamp crayfish removal measured in temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and total dissolved solids. 2) Identify if water quality parameters have stabilized to pre-introduction thresholds using nearby non-invaded stream data or historic standards as comparisons and if stream conditions are suitable for future steelhead trout reintroduction.

Analyzing Trap Efficiency

Questions?

Joseph Curti (209)628-3972 jcurti@mountainstrust.org