Kudzu: The Big Green Monster

A Common Sight

What's all that green stuff over there?


       It sprawls alongside highways. It carpets entire swaths of forestry. It's everywhere, and it's important enough that in my third-grade South Carolina musical, we sang an entire song about it. It's Kudzu.
      What began as a decorative plant native to Asia has ended in the harmful consumption of much of the American Southeast's natural environment: Kudzu is a vine that, "[o]nce established, [...] grows at a rate of one foot per day..." according to The Nature Conservancy. This quality has naturally lent itself to a fast and far spread, depicted in the graphic below, but it begs the question: How exactly did kudzu go from being an exotic porch plant to an invasive species? 

https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/forestry-wildlife/the-history-and-use-of-kudzu-in-the-southeastern-united-states/

Kudzu in America

How did it get here?

       The Forestry and Wildlife section of Alabama A&M and Auburn's Agricultural site discusses the timeline of the kudzu takeover in America in its article entitled "History and Use of Kudzu in the Southeastern United States". As previously discussed, kudzu was originally introduced for ornamental purposes—this took place in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Being a fast-growing vine, it provided much-needed shade to homes and porches in the American South. 
       However, upon the Soil and Erosion Service's encouragement in the 1930s, farmers all throughout the region planted kudzu to combat erosion and the effects of the prior damage from poor agricultural practices. Additionally, kudzu was marketed as a cheap and plentiful alternative for livestock grazing. Americans, suffering from the Great Depression at the time, were eager to comply with this proposed solution and the monetary incentives that accompanied it.
       While it initially took a significant amount of time for the kudzu to "take root", following WWII, it was extremely plentiful and by the 1950s, deemed problematic.

The Effects of Kudzu

So What? It's Just a Weed, Right?

       While kudzu is not necessarily a parasitic plant, it unfortunately does do more harm than good. Naturally, it soaks up rainfall and nutrients that would preferably reach native plants first, but the extent of its negative impact goes further: Its propensity to create shade and cover areas restricts sunlight to other plants, decreasing biodiversity across the American Southeast. Additionally, its non-native status brings in non-native pests as well, which then disrupts the ecosystem further. See the "Impacts" section of the above-linked article for this information and more!








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Iconic Carolina Wren

Image
Background Common throughout the southeast, but special to one state.        If you grew up in South Carolina, there's one thing you never failed to hear in the mornings. Perhaps it drove you crazy, or was a comforting component of your childhood soundscape. Regardless of your personal feelings towards the fairly incessant call of the state's official bird, it is undoubtedly an ever-present part of South Carolina's environment.         If you are unfamiliar with the Carolina Wren song, think you might know it but are not quite sure, or want to be reminded, you can find examples at Cornell Lab's All About Birds  Carolina Wren Sounds . What is the Carolina Wren up to? Where does the Carolina Wren go? What are its habits?  Carolina Wrens are non-migratory birds, and they mate for life, so they are fairly stationary. Their habitat encompasses the entirety of the American southeast and even stretches into South America.   ...
Read more

A Cooky Coastal Creature

Image
 The Lettered Olive It's hard to see, but it's there.        The Lettered Olive, or Oliva sayana ,  is a predatory snail (the picture you see on the left is its shell, the picture you see on the right is the mollusk component with  the shell), and South Carolina's state shell! The Lettered Olive looks like an ancient creature, especially considering that it gets its name from markings that bear similarities to Egyptian hieroglyphics — but it wasn't discovered until 1834 by Dr. Edmund Ravenel, a native Charlestonian. While they are common in SC, they are not just found along one state's coast. Rather, they are native to the entire West Atlantic coast.        The Lettered Olive shell is special to many collectors because of its high luster (which comes from the snail's shell-building tissue), and is a fun find or those who engage in shelling! I grew up with shell display cases around the house (see picture below), because my mother w...
Read more