Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) poses a serious ecological threat to naïve forest understory and wetland plant communities. In recent years, its dispersal rate into northern states near to the Great Lakes has increased rapidly. It has been observed that M. vimineum disperses via seed across a landscape, once introduced, via drainage ditches and surface runoff. However, little empirical data or models exists at the landscape-/property-scale to model this dispersal. This geospatial model, developed with ArcGIS and the ArcHydro tool package aims to predict the hydrologic dispersal of M. vimineum seed to create scouting maps to help guide land stewards in the efficient removal of source-patch progeny down gradient of the source patch. This poster is meant to outline the research proposal of this project and the initial investigation of the model concept. This project will become Ryan Schroeder’s Honors Thesis, a requirement for graduating with Honors and the Dean’s Scholars Certificate from Purdue University.
