When
Younger Lagoon was first afforded protection, it was separated from
the adjacent activities at Long
Marine Lab by construction of an earthen berm which was planted
with native bush Lupine
(shown here). Unfortunately it has also been severely impacted by
invasion of Poison Hemlock
(shown below), an alien weed brought in with our agriculture.
Several
UCSC student projects have taken
a look at questions of the ecological impact of exotic "pioneer"
species at Younger Lagoon and methods for recovering a more native
set of species and resisting further invasion. Our plant list
is probably still incomplete but is the result of several years
of study.
|