FT #7 - Native Phragmites Field Trip to the Upper Patuxent River Basin
     Leader: Robert Meadows (Rmeadows@state.de.us)

Trip departs at 12:15 PM from the circular drive at the rear entrance to the Wardman Park Hotel
Anticipated return at 6:00 PM
Limited to 10 participants

Over the last century, a rapid expansion of the common reed, Phragmites australis, has been noted in many wetland habitats in North America, especially tidal fresh and oligohaline marsh systems.  This has been most apparent along the Atlantic coast of the United States, from New England to Cape Hatteras.  There has been much speculation on the cause of this expansion, from mutation of the native stock to the introduction of an alien lineage.  Only with the recent application of powerful new cell and molecular technologies has the origin of this expansion been definitively tied to the introduction of an alien strain, native to Eurasia, in the 1800's.  This work also has identified several population types that are native to North America that recently have been designated as a subspecies, P. australis subsp. americanus.  Recent surveys of the tidal tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay have documented the existence of numerous native Phragmites populations in many of these drainages, including the Patuxent River basin.  In 2004, 23 native populations were located along a relatively pristine reach of the upper Patuxent, though extensive areas of introduced Phragmites are present elsewhere in the drainage.  Management options for both native and non-native Phragmites  will be discussed.

Pictures from Bob Meadows