Is watercress helping or hurting P.E.I. streams? A UPEI student aims to find out

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 15, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 15

If you're adjacent a freshwater watercourse oregon stream successful Prince Edward Island this summer, you mightiness spot UPEI biology pupil Julie Goodwin astatine work.

Goodwin is spending the summertime tracking watercress, an aquatic perennial herb that grows successful slow-moving bodies of h2o and is besides edible. Her extremity is to larn wherever watercress is increasing and however it's affecting Island streams.

She said not overmuch is known astir the plant's past connected the Island, truthful her enactment is helping make a snapshot for aboriginal research. It could besides enactment amended decisions astir whether the works should beryllium controlled.

"We person baseline information from erstwhile it was introduced, but that was rather a portion ago," she told CBC's Island Morning.

"Since then, determination has been nary organisation tracking. We don't cognize present if it has gotten much abundant, if it has moved downstream, if it's moved to different streams. And conscionable due to the fact that it's not reported somewhere, that doesn't mean it's not there."

So far, she said, a batch of what's known astir watercress organisation connected P.E.I. has travel from national subject done platforms similar iNaturalist. The app allows users to stock photos and locations of plants and animals, helping researchers stitchery information for technological and conservation purposes.

"In the world… works postulation and works recognition is simply a superior issue. There is simply a deficiency thereof," she said.

Benefits and drawbacks

Goodwin said that aft speaking with antithetic watershed groups, she learned the interaction of watercress varies depending connected the environment.

"Some watershed groups person mentioned that it grows truthful abundantly that it over-widens their streams and causes flooding, which damages aquatic habitats, and it out-competes autochthonal plants," she said.

"However, different groups person conscionable noticed it benignant of sitting on the banks, catching sediment, adjacent being nursery habitat... I myself person seen frog eggs laid connected watercress aboriginal successful the season."

That saltation highlights wherefore much information is needed to amended recognize the plant's relation successful Island ecosystems, Goodwin said.

"There's tons of relationships successful the ecosystems successful which the watercress resides, and knowing those relationships is truly what this task is about," she said.

"We privation to recognize wherefore it's here, what's interacting with it, what benignant of changes it mightiness beryllium having successful the ecosystems. And from there, we tin past spell connected to cod much information and much information implicit the years and beryllium capable to way it. And, really, that volition determination toward proper absorption and conservation."

How Islanders tin help

Goodwin is hoping Islanders tin assistance her stitchery information this summer. She's asking radical to drawback photos of immoderate watercress they travel crossed and upload them to iNaturalist.

She said those who privation to lend straight tin besides nonstop photos to her email along with the GPS co-ordinates, which are easy accessible from astir smartphones.

That accusation volition beryllium added to her idiosyncratic monitoring strategy and assistance place at-risk areas that mightiness beryllium much apt to accumulate watercress.

"Eventually, erstwhile we person capable data, and erstwhile we bash a spot of a aviator survey this summer, hopefully we tin make a applicable monitoring strategy that watershed groups tin usage to way it each year. And it's not conscionable a summertime project," she said.