Introduction

Non-native invasive species is becoming a huge threat to the biodiversity of native plants

(Stokes 2014). Non-native invasive species are increasingly replacing and eliminating native

species, reducing habitat quality for native animal species and altering the physical structure of

ecological processes (Stokes 2014). Woody non-native invasive plant species such as

Cotoneaster, English holly (Ilex aquifolium), English laurel (Prunus Laurocerasus), Portuguese

laurel (Prunus lusitanica), European mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and English ivy (Hedera

helix) are species of concern within Saint Edward State Park. All of these species have been

used as popular ornamental plants in yards for years.

Edge effects have been known to reduce habitat quality in remaining patches of forest

and the functional connectivity between patches which also affects the population dynamics

and species persistence in these landscapes (Zurita 2012). Because of the reduced habitat

quality/disturbance amongst the edges of the forest, this can promote non-native plant

invasions by increasing seed dispersal and resource availability along the edges (Dillon 2018).

St. Edward Park has two edges bordering residential areas, one edge bordering Lake

Washington and one edge bordering Juanita Drive and commercial businesses along with two

interior edges that hold Bastyr University and the Saint Edward seminary. Given the size of the

park and the combination of outer and interior edges, it is hard to determine if the whole park

is technically an “edge.”

Given the parks close proximity to commercial and residential areas, it is important to

assess how these human-inhabited and altered spaces affect the invasive species populations

within the park. Our initial question was “How do forest edges effect invasive species
populations?” After doing further research, we realized that this was too broad of a question

and it would be important to look at what was built on the edges of the park, how the edges

differ and base our survey off of this. Understanding where these invasive plant species may be

coming from can help prevent the spread and predict the location of where future woody

invasive species will be (Maclean). This will also help to build better management and policy

plans surrounding these species while they are still in the establishment stage (Kohli 2009). This

brings us to the question “how do residential versus commercial edges of Saint Edward Park

affect woody invasive species populations?”

Study Area

St. Edwards State Park is a 326-acre urban greenspace located in Kenmore, Washington of King

County (Saint Edward). The park serves up to 500,000 Seattle area residents per year and

provides many residents with their first and most frequent experiences in a forest ecosystem

(Stokes 2014). It was logged in the late 1800s but has since been, for the most part, undisturbed

(Stokes 2014). This space now consists of mature and mid successional forests with large native

trees (Stokes 2014).

The park has had previous invasive species removal. In 2011-2013, English holly was

located and removed in 22.8 acres of St. Edward Park (Stokes 2017). In January through March

of 2015, 231 P. lauroceraus were removed with ages ranging from 1-35 years old and 22 P.

lusitanica were removed ranging from 1-21 years old (Stokes 2017). The age of these plants

shows that these invasives have been established here for a significant amount of time. St.

Edward State Park’s management goals are to preserve and enhance native old growth forest
while also controlling invasive non-native species (Stokes 2014). Invasive species remains the

biggest threat to the ecological condition and natural biodiversity of the park (Stokes 2014).

In this study, we surveyed the commercial edge which borders Juanita Drive and has

businesses such as QFC, LA fitness and other grocery stores, gas stations and small businesses.

We also surveyed the north west residential edge which just has a neighborhood. We did four

transects on the commercial side and three transects on the residential side. We were limited

with our transects on the residential side due to the previous invasive species removal done, an

intersection with the commercial edge and Bastyr and also the terrain on the residential edge.

Figure 1: Map of Saint Edward State

Park with transects and previous
areas of invasive species removal.

The forest structure of the

areas we surveyed within St.

Edward park consisted of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western red cedar (Thuja

plicata), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) and red

alder (Alnus rubra) in the canopy layer. Much of the shrub layer consists of sword fern

(Polystichum munitum), Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica),

salal (Gaultheria shallon), Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) and salmon berry (Rubus

spectabilis). The ground cover of our survey areas consisted of wall lettuce (Lactuca muralis),
geranium (Pelargonium), sticky buds (gallium aparine), trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) and

H. helix.

Methods

We surveyed the commercial and residential edges of the park during May of 2021. For the

commercial transects, we started at the intersection of Juanita Drive and Holmes Point Drive.

We then used a random number generator to determine the amount of meters north of this

intersection that we would start. For the residential transect, we started on the northwest edge

of the park on the shore of Lake Washington. We also used a random number generator here to

determine how many meters off of the shore we should start our transects. We chose to start

at the lake because of the invasive species removal that had already been done on the eastern

side of this edge.

Once our starting points were determined, we surveyed 100 meter transects going into

the forest. We decided on 100 meter transects given that there is no true definition of a forest

“edge”, the amount of interior and exterior edges within the park, and the somewhat small size

of this area of forest. At 10 meters, 40 meters, 70 meters, and 100 meters we did a 5.6 meter

radius survey where we counted the amount of seedlings, saplings and adults of Cotoneaster, I.

aquifolium, P. Laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, Sorbus aucuparia, and H. helix. A 5.6 meter radius

was chosen because it gives us a circle with an area of 100 square meters. We surveyed a new

transect every 100 meters.

Discussion
Results

Woody invasive species were spotted in both the residential and commercial edges. More

invasive species intersected with our transects on the commercial edge. On the residential

edge, we only recorded one Portuguese laurel with a three-inch basal diameter that looked like

it had already been treated with herbicide and was dying. On the commercial edge, we

recorded three Cotoneasters, one I.aquifolium seedling, 36 I. aquifolium saplings, two I.

aquifolium adults ranging from six to eight inches in basal diameter, one S. aucuparia sapling

and nine S. aucuparia adults ranging from one to three inches in basal diameter.

For the one-way repeated measures anova test, the means of the 10m, 40m, 70m, and

100m areas that were surveyed were taken for both the commercial and residential edge. This

test showed no statistical difference between the two sets of means with a F value of 0.971 and

a P value of 0.50926.

Many of the woody invasive species that were found were large and well established.

There is also evidence that the I. aquifolium invasion could spread on the commercial edge

given the number of saplings that were found. We were also surprised to see such a well-

established S. aucuparia population in the woods and suspect the invasion of this species could

intensify.
 Commercial Invasive Species Count
Means
Average number of individuals

2
1.6 Means of
1.2
Commercial
Total Transects
found

0.8
10 meters 0.035714286
0.4
40 meters 0.214285714
0 70 meters 1.761904762
10 meters 40 meters 70 meters 100 meters
Transect Area Surveyed 100 meters 0.214285714

Figure 2:

Means of
Residential
transects
10 meters 0
40 meters 0.041666667
70 meters 0
100 meters 0

Figure 3:

One-way repeated measures anova: F=0.971 and P=0.50926. The difference between means in the commercial
and residential transects are insignificant.

Limitations

It is important to address some of the flaws and limitations in our methods, study and results.

As a whole, our study would have been more accurate if we did more transects on both the

residential and commercial side and if we did an even amount of transects but time was a

limitation with this. Surveying the south residential edge would have been more beneficial for
getting accurate results also considering the previous treatments for invasive species and

undocumented treatments for invasive species that we noticed on the north residential edge.

For our methods, we also had quite a few limitations. The first one being that there

were many invasive species outside of the transects especially on the residential edge. Doing

more transects with less distance apart would have been beneficial to our study in this case.

The border of the park was also unclear. There is a buffer zone between the residential area

and the actual park making it unclear where we were able to survey and also making it so we

were not testing the true forest edge on the residential side. We also encountered some large

cliffs and ravines on the residential edge that made it difficult to do a quadrat every 100m. The

last limitation is that there was an extra transect on the commercial side which could taint our

comparisons.

Limitations in our results were also present. As mentioned earlier, there was evidence of

treatment of woody invasive species on the residential edge. This could have affected our

results especially if there was also physical removal of seedlings, saplings and small adults. The

last limitation is that our results on the residential edge does not actually reflect the invasion

that we saw. Although there is removal currently going on, we still encountered large mature

adult I. aquifolium and also large sections of H. helix in the beginning of the transects. Some of

the H. helix areas were so established that there was no other ground cover in that space.
Picture 1: H. helix invasion on northwest residential Picture 2: Large I. aquifolium found on

edge of park. residential edge of park.

Conclusions

We can conclude that there are some areas of concern within St. Edward Park but not

necessarily if residential versus commercial edges have an effect on woody invasive species

populations.

From our data on the commercial edge, we can predict that S. aucuparia may be a

concern in the future considering the amount of well-established adult trees that we found.

There was also large I. aquifolium invasions currently already happening with large established

stands and many saplings being spotted. On the residential edge, H. helix and I. aquifolium

invasions are of serious concern although our data does not reflect that.

For management recommendations, we recommend the continuous removal and

surveying of I. aquifolium throughout the park. There should also be more surveying and
removal done on H. helix given the amount of invasion we witnessed on the north and south

residential edges. For both I. aquifolium and H. helix, it is recommended to try working with the

city of Kenmore, the city of Kirkland and possibly homeowners associations to educate

residents on the effects of using invasive species as ornamental plants in home gardens. Our

last recommendation is to do further surveying for S. aucuparia now and a year in the future to

see if further establishment of this species is happening within the park so a management plan

can be made for this species before the invasion is out of control.
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