As a program manager or land manager, is there some piece of information regarding one or more woody invasive species that you wish you had? A piece of information that would enable you to manage your program or site more effectively? If so, we would love to hear about it! Midwest Invasive Plant Network staff will do some initial digging on all questions submitted. We will forward you any existing publications that partially or fully address your question or topic. We will collect novel questions and circulate them among researchers and research programs in the region with the goal of providing the research community with research topics that will benefit managers on the ground. Please fill out the form below and see under the form for an example demonstrating an appropriate level of detail.
Research Question Example:
There is anecdotal evidence among managers of sites with mature male specimens of Amur cork tree (Phellodendron amurense) that male trees occasionally exhibit polygamodioecy. Specifically, managers have noted male trees sporadically forming fruit along one or more branches. It is presumed that the flowers on these branches have both male and female parts. However, this phenomenon has not been recorded in literature. It would be helpful to formally establish that polygamodioecy does in fact occur in this species. It would also be useful to determine how frequently it occurs in the Midwest, whether it occurs only among certain male cultivars, and to identify or isolate causal factors. This has potential policy implications as certain states’ regulations allow for the continued sale of male cultivars of Amur cork tree.
(Header Photo: A group examines an Amur cork tree that has exhibited polygamodioecy, The Morton Arboretum)
