Beachgrass Survey Webinar

CoastWatch is collaborating with Oregon State University (OSU) scientists to launch a citizen science survey that will seek to track the spread of a new hybrid beachgrass.  The Oregon coast’s landscape has been heavily affected by two introduced species of beachgrass.  Now they have hybridized, to unknown effect.  The goal of this project is to see how far the new hybrid has spread.  This is a new citizen science opportunity for CoastWatchers and other members of the public.

CoastWatch Volunteer Coordinator Jesse Jones will host Rebecca Mostow, an OSU grad student who is studying beachgrass, online at 11 a.m. on Monday, June 15.  They will be joined by Sally Hacker, a coastal ecologist and professor of integrative biology at OSU.  The webinar will feature the story of how this hybrid beachgrass was discovered, how it may impact the Oregon coast ecosystem, and what you can do to help discover new hybrids and expand our understanding of this invasive species.

Rebecca Mostow is a PhD candidate and National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow at Oregon State University where she studies the ecology and population genetics of invasive grasses in coastal dunes. Her research on a novel hybrid zone between the non-native beachgrasses Ammophila arenaria (aka European beachgrass) and A. breviligulata (American beachgrass) has earned her awards and funding from the National Science Foundation, the Washington Native Plant Society, and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. She received a B.A. in Biology from Oberlin College in 2013, where she completed a senior project on desert plant systematics. Before starting her graduate degree, Rebecca conducted research and taught at Port Townsend Marine Science Center, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and the Bureau of Land Management Carson City District.

To join the webinar, contact the CoastWatch volunteer coordinator for a link: jesse@oregonshores.org.  You don’t need your own Zoom account in order to participate.