WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 Kudzu, the Japanese vine introduced into the United States in the 1930s to help control soil erosion, worked so well that it eventually became known as the "vine that ate the South." Efforts to control Kudzu and more than 1,100 other invasive plants, which the National Park Service says are overtaking about 4,300 acres of public land every day, cost Americans at least $34.7 billion annually. More than a dozen researchers will discuss strategies for coping with this problem during a one-day symposium, "Control of Invasive Species," on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the worlds largest scientific society. The symposium begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Washington Convention Center, room 209C. Selected highlights include:

Which is worse, creep of the giant salvinia or attack of the killer tomatoes? Determining which non-native species are the greatest threats has been a challenge. But new online data could help scientists readily assess which of these invaders are the most menacing to native plants and ecosystems. The Invasive Species Assessment Protocol, developed by NatureServe, a nonprofit conservation group, in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy, is an online list of non-native plants. The downloadable list will eventually include information about all invasive plant species now found outside of cultivation in the United States. The protocol evaluates each species in four categories: ecological impact, current distribution and abundance, trend in distribution and abundance and management difficulty. This information could help focus management and funding efforts, assist with planting decisions and make the public more aware of the most problematic species. So far, nearly 400 non-native species have been evaluated. (AGRO 75, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 9:20 a.m.)

Send a strike force deep into the woods Invasive plants infest about 2.6 million acres within nation
'"/>


30-Aug-2005