Plant community diversity and native plant abundance decline with increasing abundance of an exotic annual grass

Little is known about the short-term impacts of warming on native plant community dynamics in the northern Canadian prairies. This study examined the immediate effects of elevated temperature and defoliation on plant community diversity, composition, and biomass within a native rough fescue (Festuca hallii (Vasey) Piper) grassland over two growing seasons. We used open-top chambers to simulate climate change and defoliated vegetation in midsummer of the first year to simulate biomass loss associated with periodic ungulate grazing. Warming marginally increased plant species diversity and changed community composition shortly after treatment, but effects were not apparent the second year, and there were no apparent impacts on plant biomass. Nonetheless, warming may have impacted community diversity indirectly through reduced soil moisture content, a pattern that persisted into the second year. Overall, this northern temperate grassland demonstrated limited community-level changes to warming even in the presence of defoliation.

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Root pathogen diversity and composition varies with climate in undisturbed grasslands, but less so in anthropogenically disturbed grasslands

The ISME Journal ◽

10.1038/s41396-020-00783-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 304-317 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Camille S. Delavaux ◽

Josh L. Schemanski ◽

Geoffrey L. House ◽

Alice G. Tipton ◽

Benjamin Sikes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Plant Community ◽

Plant Pathogen ◽

Fungal Pathogens ◽

Community Response ◽

Community Diversity ◽

Plant Responses ◽

Native Plant ◽

The Impact ◽

Precipitation And Temperature

AbstractSoil-borne pathogens structure plant communities, shaping their diversity, and through these effects may mediate plant responses to climate change and disturbance. Little is known, however, about the environmental determinants of plant pathogen communities. Therefore, we explored the impact of climate gradients and anthropogenic disturbance on root-associated pathogens in grasslands. We examined the community structure of two pathogenic groups—fungal pathogens and oomycetes—in undisturbed and anthropogenically disturbed grasslands across a natural precipitation and temperature gradient in the Midwestern USA. In undisturbed grasslands, precipitation and temperature gradients were important predictors of pathogen community richness and composition. Oomycete richness increased with precipitation, while fungal pathogen richness depended on an interaction of precipitation and temperature, with precipitation increasing richness most with higher temperatures. Disturbance altered plant pathogen composition and precipitation and temperature had a reduced effect on pathogen richness and composition in disturbed grasslands. Because pathogens can mediate plant community diversity and structure, the sensitivity of pathogens to disturbance and climate suggests that degradation of the pathogen community may mediate loss, or limit restoration of, native plant diversity in disturbed grasslands, and may modify plant community response to climate change.

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Effects of exotic annual grass litter and local environmental gradients on annual plant community structure

Biological Invasions ◽

10.1007/s10530-016-1303-2 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 479-491 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Claire E. Wainwright ◽

John M. Dwyer ◽

Margaret M. Mayfield

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Plant Community ◽

Environmental Gradients ◽

Plant Community Structure ◽

Annual Plant ◽

Annual Grass ◽

Grass Litter ◽

Exotic Annual Grass

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Vegetative Community Response to Landscape-Scale Post-fire Herbicide (Imazapic) Application

Invasive Plant Science and Management ◽

10.1017/inp.2018.18 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 127-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Cara Applestein ◽

Matthew J. Germino ◽

Matthew R. Fisk

Keyword(s):

Plant Community ◽

Native Species ◽

Time Course ◽

Invasive Plant ◽

Community Response ◽

Grass Cover ◽

Annual Grass ◽

Herbicide Application ◽

Exotic Annual Grass ◽

Landscape Factors

AbstractDisturbances such as wildfire create time-sensitive windows of opportunity for invasive plant treatment, and the timing of herbicide application relative to the time course of plant community development following fire can strongly influence herbicide effectiveness. We evaluated the effect of herbicide (imazapic) applied in the first winter or second fall after the 113,000 ha Soda wildfire on the target exotic annual grasses and also key non-target components of the plant community. We measured responses of exotic and native species cover, species diversity, and occurrence frequency of shrubs and forbs seeded before (1 to 2 or 9 to 10 mo) herbicide application. Additionally, we asked whether landscape factors, including topography, species richness, and/or soil characteristics, influenced the effectiveness of imazapic. Cover of exotic annual grass cover, but not of deep-rooted perennial bunchgrass, was less where imazapic had been applied, whereas more variability was evident in the response of Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda J. Presl) and seeded shrubs and forbs. Regression-tree analysis of the subset of plots measured both before and after the second fall application revealed greater reductions of exotic annual grass cover in places where their cover was <42% before spraying. Otherwise, imazapic effects did not vary with the landscape factors we analyzed.

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Impact of invasion of exotic plant Alternanthera philoxeroides on inter-species association and stability of native plant community

CHINESE JOURNAL OF ECO-AGRICULTURE ◽

10.3724/sp.j.1011.2009.00851 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 17 (5) ◽

pp. 851-856 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lian-Jin GUO ◽

Tao WANG

Keyword(s):

Plant Community ◽

Alternanthera Philoxeroides ◽

Exotic Plant ◽

Native Plant ◽

Species Association ◽

Native Plant Community

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From the Ground Up: Prairies on Reclaimed Mine Land—Impacts on Soil and Vegetation

Land ◽

10.3390/land9110455 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 455

Author(s):

Rebecca M. Swab ◽

Nicola Lorenz ◽

Nathan R. Lee ◽

Steven W. Culman ◽

Richard P. Dick

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Plant Community ◽

Prairie Restoration ◽

Native Plant ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Prairie Restorations ◽

Mine Lands ◽

The Impact

After strip mining, soils typically suffer from compaction, low nutrient availability, loss of soil organic carbon, and a compromised soil microbial community. Prairie restorations can improve ecosystem services on former agricultural lands, but prairie restorations on mine lands are relatively under-studied. This study investigated the impact of prairie restoration on mine lands, focusing on the plant community and soil properties. In southeast Ohio, 305 ha within a ~2000 ha area of former mine land was converted to native prairie through herbicide and planting between 1999–2016. Soil and vegetation sampling occurred from 2016–2018. Plant community composition shifted with prairie age, with highest native cover in the oldest prairie areas. Prairie plants were more abundant in older prairies. The oldest prairies had significantly more soil fungal biomass and higher soil microbial biomass. However, many soil properties (e.g., soil nutrients, β-glucosoidase activity, and soil organic carbon), as well as plant species diversity and richness trended higher in prairies, but were not significantly different from baseline cool-season grasslands. Overall, restoration with prairie plant communities slowly shifted soil properties, but mining disturbance was still the most significant driver in controlling soil properties. Prairie restoration on reclaimed mine land was effective in establishing a native plant community, with the associated ecosystem benefits.

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