Adaptive Management in EBIPM: A Key to Success in Invasive Plant Management

Preventing invasion by nonnative or undesirable plant species and controlling ongoing invasion are two key management issues on rangelands worldwide. Invasive species cause considerable ecological and economic cost, including lost biodiversity and reduced productivity. Invasive plants cause approximately $5 billion in direct losses to ranchers and range managers each year.1 Despite the ecological and economic costs of invasive plant species, few widely effective solutions to these problems have been developed. Tools to address the problem such as grazing strategies, herbicide applications, prescribed burning, and rangeland seeding have only limited success, failing as often as succeeding because invasive plant management is much more complex than merely reducing weed abundances.2 It is becoming clear that numerous biological and nonbiological factors determine if invasive species management can be successful