Herbaceous plant cover establishment on highway road sides

2007 ◽  
pp. 387-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Koukoura ◽  
A. Kyriazopoulos ◽  
I. Karmiris
Keyword(s):  
Plant Cover ◽  
Herbaceous Plant

scholarly journals RESTORATION OF FORMER GRASSLAND IN SOUTH-CENTRAL TEXAS

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy J. Leonard ◽  
O. W. Van Auken
Keyword(s):  
San Antonio ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Juniperus Ashei ◽  
South Central ◽  
Central Texas

Abstract In the past, grasslands and savannas were common in many areas of south-central Texas, including the San Antonio area. With the advent of European settlers and their livestock, much of this area was converted to agriculture and rangeland. Today, most of San Antonio is developed, but some preservation has occurred. Restored grassland, mechanically cleared of Juniperus ashei (juniper, Ashe juniper) and other woody species in 2013, was examined and compared to adjacent non-cleared woodland. The woodland examined was dominated by Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon) and Juniperus ashei. Richness in the woodland canopy was 15 species. The understory below the canopy had 25 woody species. In the restored grassland area, herbaceous plant cover was 41.8%, woody plant cover 5.8%, bare soil 2.9%, and litter cover 49.5%. Species richness was 71, with 60 herbaceous and 11 woody species (percent cover of each from <0.1–7.1%). The most common species in the restored grassland in descending order were Nassella leucotricha (Texas winter grass), Calyptocarpus vialis (straggler daisy), Carex planostachys (cedar sedge), Sporobolus crypandrus (sand dropseed), D. texana, and Verbesina virginica (frost weed). Several C4 grass species were present with low cover but may increase in abundance over time. Four of the six most common restored grassland species were present below the woodland canopy and 12 woody species were present in the restored grassland as juveniles. Cost of restoration was approximately $38,500 ($7,500 supplies, $31,000 labor).

Effects of different nanoparticles and biochar application on the biological indicators of a polluted mine soil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Forján Castro ◽  
Diego Baragaño Coto ◽  
Daniel Arenas Lago ◽  
José Luis Rodríguez Gallego ◽  
Erika Silva Santos
Keyword(s):  
Contaminated Soils ◽  
Iron Nanoparticles ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Biological Indicators ◽  
Enzymatic Activities ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Mine Soil ◽  
Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles ◽  
Commercial Mixture

<p>In active mines areas without environmental management plans or abandoned mines, the mineral processing and mining-waste disposal are common sources of pollution that can affect large areas comprising soils and waters. Inevitably this situation leads to a degradation of plant cover whether natural or planted. Thus, a sustainable recovery of mine tailings and contaminated soils, located inside or surrounding the mine area is necessary, especially with innovative strategies for in situ elements stabilization. Within different stabilization options, nanoremediation, i.e. amending with nanomaterials (usually Fe-based nanoparticles) alone or combined with other amendments, is an interesting approach. Most of the studies are focused on the immobilization of metal(oid)s by nanoparticles, however only a few works assess the effects of these amendments on contaminated soils on their microbiology and plants. For these reasons, the main scope of this study was the assessment of some biological indicators, namely several enzymatic activities in soils and plant development, of a contaminated mine soil amended with two different types of commercial nanoparticles (iron nanoparticles nZVI and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles) and their combinations with biochar (by PYREG Carbon Technology Solutions, was made from wood following the PYREG® methodology). The studied soil belongs to a broad mining area in NW Spain and it revealed high total concentrations of Cu and As (5000 and 300 mg/kg, respectively). The mine soil was amended in a factorial experiment in pots assay, under controlled conditions in greenhouse, with iron nanoparticles (nZVI), hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nHP), biochar, and the combination of nZVI+biochar and nHP+biochar. In these pots was sown a commercial mixture of herbaceous plant species for pasture being monitored for 45 days. Plant cover was determined and once this assay time had elapsed, four enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, acid phosphatase and urease) of the soil and biomass weight was analyzed.</p><p>Only rye grass germinated. Same result was verified in the pot assay and independently of treatment. Plant cover in all treatments was similar reaching more than 80 %, however dry plant biomass varied. Notable differences were observed in the enzymatic activity among the soil amended only with nanoparticles, the soil amended with the combination of nanoparticles and biochar or biochar alone. In general, the application of studied amendments, alone or combined and compared to the control, increased the functioning of the overall microbial community and microbial communities associated to C and N cycling. The soil amended with biochar and biochar combined with nanoparticles presented a greater enzymatic activities in the soil compared to the direct application of nanoparticles. A differentiation in the some enzymatic activities (e.g. dehydrogenase and urease) with the nanoparticles type was verified.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Acknowledgment: </strong>This work was supported by the research project NANOCAREM MCI-20-PID2019-106939GB-I00 (AEI/FEDER, UE) and Portuguese funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the scope of the project UID/AGR/04129/2020 (LEAF). The authors thanks the grants: Arenas-Lago D. (postdoc contract ED481D 2019/007) and Baragaño D. (Formación del Profesorado Universitario program) financed by of Xunta de Galicia and Universidade de Vigo and Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte de España, respectively.</p><p> </p>

Influence of Sulfonylurea and Other Herbicides on Selected Woody and Herbaceous Species

Weed Science ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Meyer ◽  
Rodney W. Bovey
Keyword(s):  
Plant Cover ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Herbaceous Species ◽  
Grass Cover ◽  
Weed Cover ◽  
Broadleaf Species ◽  
Honey Mesquite

Chlorsulfuron and metsulfuron were effective on Texas whitebrush, killing 70 to 75% of the plants at 0.28 kg ai ha, marginally effective on Macartney rose, killing 15 to 43% of the plants at 1.12 kg ha, but ineffective on honey mesquite and huisache, killing no more than 10% of the plants at 1.12 kg ha. Sulfometuron was ineffective on all woody species at 1.12 kg ai ha. Clopyralid and picloram were effective, killing 70 to 92% of the huisache at 2.24 kg ae ha. Tebuthiuron killed 72% of the Texas whitebrush at 1.12 kg ai ha. Sulfometuron generally reduced herbaceous plant cover the year of application. Chlorsulfuron and metsulfuron often resulted in increased grass cover the year of application. Most herbicides reduced broadleaf weeds the year of application. Woolly croton often was the first prominent broadleaf species to return to areas treated with clopyralid and sulfometuron. Few differences occurred among herbicides in herbaceous weed cover the year following treatment.

Impacts of black stain root disease in recently formed mortality centers in the piñon-juniper woodlands of southwestern Colorado

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
H SJ Kearns ◽  
W R Jacobi
Keyword(s):  
Plant Cover ◽  
Root Disease ◽  
Pinus Edulis ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Tree Seedling ◽  
Frequency Responses ◽  
Ips Confusus ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Water Holding

Thirty discrete black stain root disease (BSRD) mortality centers, caused by Leptographium wageneri (Kendr.) Wingf. var. wageneri, were examined in 1999 to determine the effects of BSRD on the composition and structure of piñon–juniper woodlands at the tree, shrub, and herbaceous plant levels and on tree-seedling regeneration. In these recently formed mortality centers, the majority (68%) of all piñon (Pinus edulis Engelm.) was dead, 76% of piñon were affected by BSRD, and 70% had evidence of piñon ips bark beetle (Ips confusus Leconte) attack. BSRD mortality centers had a mean area of 0.28 ha (range 0.07 to 0.63 ha). There were no statistically significant (p > 0.05) differences in shrub composition, cover, or diversity between mortality centers and the unaffected surrounding woodlands. Herbaceous plant cover was significantly greater (p < 0.001) within mortality centers and frequency responses were species specific. There were no significant (p = 0.629) differences in the density of piñon regeneration inside mortality centers compared with outside mortality centers. The pathogen was regularly isolated from piñon roots dead for 5–8 years and once from a root dead for 16 years. The rate of radial expansion of mortality centers averaged 1.1 m/year (0.07 SE). The rate of mortality center expansion was not significantly (p > 0.05) related to available water-holding capacity, percent organic matter, pH of soils, piñon density, or any other site data recorded.

Dynamics and patterns of plant development in restored mining areas. Practical examples

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Martínez-Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Mine Wastes ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Opencast Mining ◽  
Vegetation Establishment ◽  
Native Shrubs

&lt;p&gt;Opencast mining has altered large areas in many countries, generating major environmental impacts, whose restoration is an urgent need. The effective restoration of opencast mines is a complex process, hampered primarily by the total elimination of vegetation and soil. In the absence of plant cover, these areas may be subject to wind and water erosion, or leaching, polluting rivers, streams, aquifers, and arable lands, as well as being unsightly. Although revegetation of mine wastes can occur naturally, if given time, the process could be extremely slow due to the toxicity, and physical and nutritional shortcomings that wastes often present. Several revegetation approaches have been undertaken worldwide to promote faster vegetation development. However, the results have often been discouraging by a lack of knowledge of the ecological principles involved; the soil is one of the most important limiting factors for vegetation establishment in mine lands.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Topsoil addition over coal-mine wastes in northern Spain favours the establishment of native vegetation by improving physico-chemical and biological soil properties. Without topsoil, vegetation establishment is extremely slow resulting in very unstable plant communities even 40 years after the stop of mining. The addition of herbaceous plant seeds by hydroseeding is frequently used to compensate for the seeds scarcity in the added topsoil. However, hydroseeding is not always successful because of the use of commercial mixtures of non-native seeds. In any case, the installed grassland is being colonized by woody species from the surrounding forest. The structure of the new plant community varies not only in time (succession) but also in space (distance to the seed source), and the process is strongly determined by interactions between the forest edge and the initial grassland patch. The colonization pattern of woody species is affected by fine-scale variations in abiotic factors, including soil properties, which change from the forest to the mine. The native shrubs that colonize the mines (&lt;em&gt;Genista florida&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Cytisus scoparius&lt;/em&gt;) facilitate the establishment of native oaks (&lt;em&gt;Quercus pyrenaica&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Q. petraea&lt;/em&gt;) and thus the natural forest expansion. One of the mechanisms driving this facilitation shrub-tree process is the soil improvement mediated by native shrubs. Also, hillside topography, common in mines located in the mountains, has certain peculiarities regarding revegetation in flat areas since there is a segregation of vegetation along the slope with grasslands occupying the upper parts and shrublands of legumes the lower parts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to improve the decision-making during restoration management, it is necessary to be based on the knowledge of the mechanisms that condition the establishment of vegetation and the underlying succession processes. The long-term monitoring of existing experimental devices and their extension to other areas and restoration objectives are essential to establish a protocol of performance to adjust decisions to the particular circumstances of each area to be restored and thus reconcile environmental restoration with the economic activity of the area.&lt;/p&gt;

Seasonal Response of Woody Plants to Tebuthiuron Pellets

Weed Science ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney W. Bovey ◽  
Robert E. Meyer ◽  
L. Fred Bouse ◽  
James B. Carlton
Keyword(s):  
Woody Plants ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Quercus Virginiana ◽  
Live Oak ◽  
Post Oak ◽  
Ilex Vomitoria ◽  
Ulmus Alata ◽  
Vaccinium Arboreum

Pelleted tebuthiuron {N-[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]-N,N′-dimethylurea} was hand broadcast at 2.2 and 4.5 kg ai/ha every month for 2 yr on an area infested with live oak (Quercus virginianaMill. ♯4QUEVI), post oak (Q. stellataWangenh. ♯ QUESL), parsley hawthorn (Crataegus marshalliiEgglest. ♯ CSCMS), and yaupon (Ilex vomitoriaAit. ♯ ILEVO) on the Gulf Coast Prairie near Cordele, TX. Live oak, post oak, and parsley hawthorn trees were killed at most rates and dates of tebuthiuron application. Applications of 2.2 kg/ha of tebuthiuron killed 90% or more of the yaupon plants when it was applied in October and December 1975 and February, March, and June 1976 and less than 90% when applied at other dates. On another site, pelleted tebuthiuron was aerially applied at 2.2 and 4.5 kg/ha every 3 months during 1978 and 1979 in the Post Oak Savannah near Bryan, TX. At 2.2 kg/ha, tebuthiuron killed all post oak and 80% or more of the blackjack oak (Q. marilandicaMuechh.), yaupon, winged elm (Ulmus alataMichx. ♯ ULMAL), and mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosaNutt.) regardless of date treated. Tree huckleberry (Vaccinium arboreumMarsh.) killed by tebuthiuron when applied at 2.2 kg/ha ranged from 34% in July 1979 to 69% from application in February 1978. Application of 4.5 kg/ha of tebuthiuron killed 83% or more of the tree huckleberry when it was applied in January and April 1978 and January, April, July, and October 1979. Herbaceous plant cover usually increased by the second season.

scholarly journals Influence of the herbaceous layer and litter depth on the spatial distribution of litter macrofauna in a forest plantation

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. I. Faly ◽  
V. V. Brygadyrenko
Keyword(s):  
Size Structure ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Robinia Pseudoacacia ◽  
Herbaceous Plants ◽  
Forest Belt ◽  
Taxonomic Structure ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Disturbed Condition ◽  
Steppe Species ◽  
Number Of Species

The litter invertebrate community consists of species from different size, trophic and taxonomic groups. The distribution of the animal population of the litter horizon depends upon many factors, especially the content of the phytocoenosis, the projective herbaceous plant cover, moisture, litter thickness and the soil texture. This article analyses the variability of the main characteristics of litter invertebrate communities (total number, number of species, diversity according to the Shannon–Wiener and Pielou indices) on plots with different herbaceous plant composition and cover in plantations of Robinia pseudoacacia L. in the South steppe zone of Ukraine (territory of the “Tiligulsky” Regional Landscape Park). The taxonomic structure of the litter communities in the Robinia plantation was dominated by predatory groups of invertebrates (Carabidae, Aranea, Formicidae). The abundance of Julidae, Isopoda, Silphidae and Staphylinidae was relatively low. The studied forest plots were characterized by the simplified size structure of the litter macrofauna. The absence of species with body length of 16–20 mm and length over 20 mm indicates damage to the most significant trophic chains. The forest belt studied is in a highly disturbed condition, the plots being dominated by steppe species of herbaceous plants. The analyzed factors (diversity and extent of cover of herbaceous plants) do not determine the structure of the litter macrofauna community but affect it indirectly: a slight increase in the total number of invertebrates was observed in areas with minimal and maximum number of species of herbaceous plants. The relationship between the abundance of invertebrates and the percentage of herbaceous plant cover is manifested insignificantly. We noted a tendency for the number of invertebrate species to decrease along the gradient of herbaceous plant cover due to the concentration of dominant predatory species which exterminate other trophic groups of macrofauna.

scholarly journals Rock crevices determine woody and herbaceous plant cover in the karst critical zone

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 1756-1763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyan Liu ◽  
Zihan Jiang ◽  
Jingxi Dai ◽  
Xiuchen Wu ◽  
Jian Peng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Cover ◽  
Critical Zone ◽  
Herbaceous Plant

scholarly journals Woody Encroachment Extent and Its Associated Impacts on Plant and Herbivore Species Occurrence in Maswa Game Reserve, Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Houssein Samwel Kimaro ◽  
Ayoub M. Asenga ◽  
Linus Munishi ◽  
Anna C. Treydte
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Woody Plant Encroachment ◽  
Species Occurrence ◽  
Game Reserve ◽  
Herbivore Species

Habitat degradation caused by woody plant encroachment has been a common phenomenon in savanna ecosystems. An increasing woody plant cover in open grassland reduces grazing grounds and, consecutively, impacts mammalian herbivores, but structural changes and their associated impact have rarely been assessed and quantified. We analyzed the extent of woody plant encroachment via remote sensing and used transects and plots to assess encroaching woody plant species and their associated impacts on herbaceous plant and herbivore species in Maswa Game Reserve, Tanzania. We found that woody plant cover had increased by 0.5% to 2.6% per annum over the last thirty years, while in other parts of the park it has decreased by 0.5% to 1.5% per annum. Acacia drepanolobium was the dominant encroaching woody species, and the number of stems in heavily encroached sites was seven times and three times higher than in open grassland and at medium encroached sites, respectively. In encroached plots, grazer and mixed feeder species occurrence were reduced while the presence of browser species was slightly elevated. Furthermore, our finding shows that bare ground cover is positively correlated with an increase of woody plant cover. Additionally, the number of herbaceous species slightly increased with the increase of woody plant encroachment, while the herbaceous cover was negatively correlated with the increase of woody plant cover. We suggest that fire regimes should be taken up to suppress the ongoing encroachment processes while strongly encroached sites might need mechanical intervention to control dense vegetation. This emphasis is on fire, particularly prescribed fire as a management tool of vegetation in Savanna ecosystem. We conclude that, woody plant encroachment is driven by different factors such as fire, mega-herbivores and topology that may interactively trigger woody plant encroachment in Savanna ecosystem.

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