#143 - Courtney Robichaud: Freshwater Wetlands & Phragmites australis

Storytellers of STEMM

Today's storyteller is Dr Courtney Robichaud! Courtney is a wetlands scientist who has primarily researched Phragmites australis - which is a super tall colony forming invasive freshwater plant species. And when I say tall, it's regularly 10-15 feet tall. And Phragmites (aka phrag or roseau) is very good at invading locations and outcompeting native species. It forms these dense colonies which also doesn't really allow for a diverse suite of species to grow in the same area. I was so excited to talk to Courtney because I spend a solid portion of my wetlands scientist career working with phrag, and it was fun to nerd out about the fieldwork and logistics side of it to start. But the biggest thing I wanted to talk about is - what do we do when an invasive species such as phrag is taking over, but also simultaneously holding the wetland together? What do you do? How do you manage that scenario, or do you even manage it at all? It's partially a philosophical question and partly a feasibility question. So we discuss that in length as well, comparing Ontario (Courtney's area) vs the Mississippi River Delta (my area). This was a great conversation and I'm so excited about a wetlands episode. Enjoy!!

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You can find Rachel Villani on Twitter @flyingcypress and Storytellers of STEMM on Facebook and Twitter @storytellers42.

You can find Courtney Robichaud on Twitter @cdrobich and her website https://crobichaud.weebly.com/.

Rachel works on the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) in Louisiana: https://www.lacoast.gov/crms/Home.aspx

Book List: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel, Fire Fall by Bethany Frenette

Recorded on 21 November 2021.