Ep. 470 - Rethinking Water Lettuce

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Science & Medicine, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) has long been maligned for its invasive tendencies. This floating aquatic aroid grows fast and responds well to poor water quality, and because of this, states like Florida spend lots of time and money on trying to eradicate it. However, a combination of fossil end recent genetic evidence suggests that we should rethink our approach to water lettuce in Florida. Join me and Dr. Jason Evans as we discuss how data tell a different story that suggests at least some lineages of water lettuce are native after all and how that can open new doors to science and restoration. This episode was produced in part by Mohsin Kazmi Photography, Cathy, Simon, Nick, Paul, Charis, EJ, Laura, Sung, NOK, Stephen, Heidi, Kristin, Luke, Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensive Plants podcast the official
0:03.1	podcast of Inoffensiveplants.com. What's up? This is your host Matt. Welcome to the
0:07.2	show. How is everyone doing this week? If you're enjoying the show just
0:11.0	remember it doesn't happen without your support and there are a lot of
0:14.2	great ways of doing that one of the best is to pick up some of our customizable
0:18.0	merch all you have to do is go to indefensible plants dot com click on apparel at the top or navigate to your favorite
0:24.4	podcast episode and click on the link I put it there as well. All of our designs are
0:29.6	really cool vintage prints and all of the styles are customizable so you can find something that works for you and support the show at the same time.
0:37.0	But speaking of the show, I have a really interesting topic for you today and it involves a species I grew up knowing as a nasty invasive species, the water
0:46.4	lettuce and the genus Pistia. But my guest today spent many years at the grindstone trying to tease apart is it truly an invasive species
0:55.1	that needs to be controlled or is it something far more complex than that.
0:58.9	Joining us to talk about this is Dr. Jason Evans and his story about water lettuce is super
1:04.4	inspiring on a lot of levels and gives us a way to move forward with better
1:08.3	management of wetlands. I don't want to steal any of us Thunder. It's a
1:12.1	really fascinating story so let's just jump right into it. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Dr. Jason Evans, welcome to the podcast. I'm really excited to talk to you about this today,
1:38.0	but for those that aren't familiar for their work, how about we start off with an introduction? Tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what it is you do?
1:46.2	Okay, so I am a wetlands and landscape ecologist and I'm actually from Florida I'm a Florida native I've lived here most of my life
1:57.2	I'm now the executive director for the Institute for Water and Environmental
2:01.7	Resilience and so I've been at Stetson University water and environmental resilience.
2:03.3	And so I've been at Stetson University.
2:05.6	I've been at Stetson University since August 2014,
2:08.2	so about 10 years or so.
	...

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