“Under the right conditions, fire can remove years of the old dead vegetation and allow new growth to sprout,” Shirley said.

Andy Nyman, a wetlands ecology professor at the LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources, said a marsh fire will stimulate new growth and also create better wildlife habitat when the water level covers the plant roots, followed by lower water levels. “Such conditions are most common just before and after winter cold fronts,” he said.

Neils De Hoop, a forestry professor at the LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources, will instruct the class on gauging weather conditions to determine the proper time to safely conduct a burn. Under the right weather conditions, smoke will rise and drift away from sensitive areas such as populated areas or airports, he said.

There is no cost to attend the class but pre-registration is requested by contacting Crystal Bowman at the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry at 225-922-1296 or at cbowman1@ldaf.state.la.us.

Editor: Bruce Schultz at 337-788-8821 or bschultz@agcenter.lsu.edu

“It is challenging because in some places other types of vegetation is growing up around the phragmites,” Nyman said. Nyman plans to observe the cane for a year to capture the full seasonal pattern of plant health.

Also, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting geospatial assessments of the Roseau cane die-offs in the delta to understand how the health of the marsh is changing.

>“Work continues to support calls for the expansion of large-scale monitoring as well as improved species detection capabilities, especially where species differentiation can help shed light on what new species are colonizing areas of degraded Roseau cane habitat,” said Glen Suir, a research agronomist with the Corps.

AgCenter entomologist Ian Knight said different varieties of Roseau cane have varying levels of susceptibility to the scale. A delta variety and a European variety of Roseau cane are two types that grow in Louisiana marshes.

Preliminary data has shown the delta variety is more vulnerable to the scale.

“The European variety doesn’t seem to exhibit die-off symptoms as severely,” Knight said.

Knight is providing Laura Meyerson at the University of Rhode Island with cane samples so she can study the genetic characteristics of the Louisiana varieties of Roseau cane. In addition, Scott Schneider at the USDA-ARS in Beltsville, Maryland, will be studying the genetics of the Roseau cane scale.

Jim Cronin, a professor in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, suspects multiple stressors could be affecting Roseau cane health. He is studying soil chemistry in the marsh to see if cane die-off may be caused by toxic chemicals in the soil.

“We will compare soil chemicals from where it’s died off to areas where it is healthy,” Cronin said.,

With the sediments and chemicals that come down the Mississippi River and are deposited into the marshes that make up the lower river delta, phytotoxic properties could be found in the soil. Cronin plans to analyze samples from locations across coastal Louisiana to look for patterns in areas of die-off.

AgCenter plant pathologist Rodrigo Valverde also believes that more than one culprit is affecting the cane health. He is looking at the die-offs from a plant pathogen perspective.

“We are going to the affected areas, collecting samples of diseased plants and bringing them to the lab,” Valverde said.

Valverde is isolating potential pathogens from the plants he collected and is growing cultures of some of them. His plan is to inoculate healthy Roseau cane with the pathogens to see if they are causing disease or death.

The LSU AgCenter Roseau cane website, www.lsuagcenter.com/Roseaucane, offers information on die-offs, research and scale recognition. The public who come in contact with Roseau cane can assist with monitoring of the scale by filling out a distribution survey found online at http://bit.ly/2BYmDiQ.

Tobie Blanchard | 10/5/2018 6:28:45 PM | LSU Agcenter | permalink

The Laborde Award for Leadership in Renewable Natural Resources is an endowed scholarship through the LSU Alumni Association and will be presented each year to a senior who has demonstrated leadership in clubs and activities sponsored by the School of Renewable Natural Resources, and who has an overall GPA of 3.25 or better.

In the first year of presentation, 2 seniors in Wildlife Ecology, Colette Pansini and Anna West, were selected to receive awards of $1,000 per semester. Miss Pansini and Miss West were selected in part for their leadership roles in the success of the student chapters of The Wildlife Society and Tiger Chapter Ducks Unlimited. Dr. Laborde is an instructor at the School of Renewable Natural Resources. Congratulations to Colette and Anna!

"I am honored to be selected as the first recipient of the John w. Barton, Sr. College of Agriculture Wildlife Scholarship," said Skaggs. "While the monetary award will help me personally as I finish my thesis, I am further humbled to be associated with the legacy of Mr. Barton. In particular, his conservation and civic leadership are an inspiration, and I am thankful to be recognzed as I start my career in wildfife conservation."

The scholarship was established by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation to honor Barton, who received a bachelor's degree in sugar-chemical engineering from LSU in 1939. He was a fonding member of the National Turkey Federation and active in the Quality Deer Management Association. During his career, he played key roles in numerous business, civic, and professional organizations

The $2,500 award wil be made annualy to a full-time School of Renewable Resources graduate student studying in the fields of wildlife management or wildflife ecology.

Congratulations, Cassie!

permalink: LSU Alumni Magazine: Summer 2018