The Indiana Dunes is an area of land beside Lake Michigan, in the State of Indiana, United States. It includes Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park. Non-native plant species, specifically invasive species, have colonized that area. Invasive plants are those plants that aggressively spread throughout an area and out-compete other plant species, normally those that are native to the area.
Negative impacts
Invasive plant species in the Indiana Dunes have several negative impacts. They may:
- Displace the variety of flowering plants, substituting a monoculture
- Grow densely around trails, roads, and water, making travel difficult or impossible
- Introduce toxins into the environment
- Have unpleasant spines or thorns
- Smother ponds, killing fish
Specific examples include:
- Purple loosestrife â establishes a monoculture, reducing the variety of wildlife.
- Bush honeysuckles â prevents regeneration of woody plants and herbs, reducing bird habitat.
- Glossy buckthorn â prevents regeneration of woody plants, slowly destroying forests.
- Garlic mustard â alters the chemistry of the soil to kill other seeds, creating a monoculture.
- Asian bittersweet â this vine can kill or damage trees and shrubs.
- Crown vetch â alters the soil chemistry and pushes out the variety of other plants.
- Japanese knotweed â tolerates floods and drought, creates a monoculture.
- Spotted knapweed â releases toxins into the soil to poison its competition.
- Common reed â this introduced non-native species aggressively pushes the native species and other aquatic plants out of the ecosystem.
- Canada thistle â out-competes native vegetation in prairies, savannas, and dunes.
Species established within the Dunes
Current threats
Emerging threats to natural resources or extent unknown
References