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Summary: Assessing an exotic plant surveying program in the Mojave
Desert, Clark County, Nevada, USA
Scott R. Abella & Jessica E. Spencer &
Joshua Hoines & Carrie Nazarchyk
Received: 27 August 2007 /Accepted: 29 February 2008 / Published online: 28 March 2008
# Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008
Abstract Exotic species can threaten native ecosys-
tems and reduce services that ecosystems provide to
humans. Early detection of incipient populations of
exotic species is a key step in containing exotics before
explosive population growth and corresponding impacts
occur. We report the results of the first three years of an
exotic plant early detection and treatment program
conducted along more than 3,000 km of transportation
corridors within an area >1.5 million ha in the Mojave
Desert, USA. Incipient populations of 43 exotic plant
species were mapped using global positioning and
geographic information systems. Brassica tournefortii
(Sahara mustard) infested the most soil types (47% of
256) surveyed in the study area, while Nicotiana
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