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 – establishes a monoculture, reducing the variety of wildlife. ^[1]
• Bush honeysuckles – prevents regeneration of woody plants and herbs, reducing bird habitat. ^[1]
• Glossy buckthorn – prevents regeneration of woody plants, slowly destroying forests. ^[1]
• Garlic mustard – alters the chemistry of the soil to kill other seeds, creating a monoculture. ^[1]
• Asian bittersweet – this vine can kill or damage trees and shrubs. ^[1]
• Crown vetch – alters the soil chemistry and pushes out the variety of other plants. ^[1]
• Japanese knotweed – tolerates floods and drought, creates a monoculture. ^[1]
• Spotted knapweed – releases toxins into the soil to poison its competition. ^[1]
• Common reed – this introduced non-native species aggressively pushes the native species and other aquatic plants out of the ecosystem. ^[1]
• Canada thistle – out-competes native vegetation in prairies, savannas, and dunes. ^[1]

Species established within the Dunes

References