Members of AYLUS Syosset participated in another invasive plant removal project with the members of AYLUS Great neck and Dix hills and the Stewardship Saturday Program at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. Members learned about the dangers of invasive species like devil’s ivy, porcelain berry, multiflora rose and honeysuckle vines. Removing invasive vines is important for a number of reasons. Invasive vines cause the trees it affects to become choked, pulling its branches downward, causing the tree to be more susceptible to fall, break or become infected with insects and fungi. Having a loss in biodiversity is damaging to our ecosystems as the other insects, birds and other flora and fauna all depend on each other. Multiflora rose prevents important native plants from being able to thrive and is also believed to disrupt bird nesting behaviors. The park ranger named Dave told us about the group’s mission of wanting to clear the tourist areas of all its invasives, as it makes the forests look more alive and healthy. Syosset AYLUS managed to remove countless small and large vines that wrapped around small trees and large trees. Though it was hard at times to reach and pull some of the vines, members did the most that they could.
Members that participated include (everyone 2.5 h): Alyssa Huang, Margaret Zhang, Rayya Zheng, Reyna Zheng, Haodong Wang, Haohua Wang, Tracy Xu, Meghan Liu, Zoey Liu.
