scholarly journals Evaluating Restoration Methods across a Range of Plant Communities Dominated by Invasive Annual Grasses to Native Perennial Grasses

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla A. Nyamai ◽  
Timothy S. Prather ◽  
John M. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Seed Predation ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Herbicide Application ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Annual Grasses ◽  
Specific Factors

AbstractPrairies are imperiled habitats, with remnants being generally small and often existing in isolation. Invasive plants have the potential to invade not just the edge of small remnants but also the interior because smaller remnants experience greater edge effects than do large, contiguous prairies. Additionally, invasive plants limit recruitment of native plants, which can arrest secondary succession. We proposed to assess techniques for restoration that included removing annual grasses and supplementing native species recruitment with seeding of native grass and forb species. We also assessed the effect of specific factors affecting recruitment: soil moisture and seed predation. Treatments included broadcast, spot, or no application of the herbicides imazapic and glyphosate and with or without seeding plus mulch. With treatments nested within each of three plant communities, ranging from annual- to perennial-dominated communities, in four blocks per community, plant characteristics (percentage of cover and plant density), soil moisture availability, and seed-predation losses were measured along a plant community gradient within one season at two locations. A combination of broadcast herbicide application and seeding with mulching was found to be more effective in reducing annual grasses and enhancing the establishment of native grass species in predominately annual and mixed communities (annuals and perennials). Spot herbicide application was effective in predominately perennial communities, whereas only seeding native species did not improve recruitment. Although seed predation reduced seedling recruitment, mulch provided seed protection and enhanced soil moisture retention. Plant community response to imposed treatments differed among communities, suggesting that a decision support tool would facilitate management decisions tailored for each plant community. The decision tool would be useful to ensure that appropriate treatments are applied and that specific factors affecting recruitment, such as seed predation and soil moisture, are addressed.

Effect of Aminopyralid on Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) and the Native Plant Community in a Restored Tallgrass Prairie

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis L. Almquist ◽  
Rodney G. Lym
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Cirsium Arvense ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Stem Density ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Canada Thistle ◽  
Native Plant Community ◽  
Restored Prairie

AbstractAminopyralid efficacy on Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) and potential to injure native species was evaluated in a restored prairie at the Glacial Ridge Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy in Polk County, MN. Canada thistle stem density was reduced from 17 to 0.1 stems m−2 10 mo after treatment (MAT) with aminopyralid applied in the fall at 120 g ha−1. Aminopyralid also altered the composition of both Canada thistle–infested and native plant communities. Aminopyralid controlled Canada thistle and removed or reduced several undesirable forb species from the restored prairie communities, such as absinth wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and perennial sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis). A number of high seral forbs were also reduced or removed by aminopyralid, including maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) and purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea). Foliar cover of high seral forbs in the native plant community was reduced from 12.2 to 7% 22 MAT. The cover of high seral grass species, such as big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) increased after aminopyralid application in both the Canada thistle–infested and native plant communities and averaged 41.4% cover compared with only 19.4% before removal of Canada thistle. Species richness, evenness, and diversity were reduced after aminopyralid application in both Canada thistle–infested and native plant communities. However, the benefits of Canada thistle control, removal of undesirable species, and the increase in native grass cover should lead to an overall improvement in the long-term stability and composition of the restored prairie plant community, which likely outweigh the short-term effects of a Canada thistle control program.

scholarly journals Meta-Analysis of Exotic Forages as Invasive Plants in Complex Multi-Functioning Landscapes

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Derek Scasta ◽  
David M. Engle ◽  
Samuel D. Fuhlendorf ◽  
Daren D. Redfearn ◽  
Terrance G. Bidwell
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Plant Community Structure ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Forage Species ◽  
Negative Effect

AbstractIntroducing exotic forages in the attempt to enhance livestock and wildlife forage has been practiced widely for over a century. These forage species are selected for traits conferring persistence under stress, potentially yielding invaders that transform native plant communities. Using standardized systematic review guidelines and meta-analytical techniques we quantified effects of exotic forage invasion on change of native plant community structure, and compared the magnitude and direction of change across exotic forage species, plant functional groups, and structure of plant communities. Our study of 13 exotic forage species in North America (six C4 grasses, three C3 grasses, and four legumes) yielded 35 papers with quantitative data from 64 case studies. Nine of the 13 species met our inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. The overall effect of exotic forage invasion on native plant communities was negative (Ē̄ = −0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.29 to −0.25). The effect size was most negative for two C4 grasses, Lehmann lovegrass and Old World bluestems. A negative effect was also expressed by C3 and C4 grass functional groups, and these effects were stronger than for legumes. Effect size differed among measures of plant community structure, with the greatest negative effect on native plant biomass and the least negative effect on species evenness. Weighted fail-safe numbers indicated publication bias was not an issue. Exotic forage species are important for agricultural production but may threaten complex multi-functioning landscapes and should be considered as a subset of potentially invasive exotic species. Characteristics making exotic forages different from other exotic plants hinge on pathways of selection and dispersion: selection is based on persistence mechanisms similar to characteristics of invasive plants; dispersion by humans is intentional across expansive geographic regions. Exotic forages present a complex socio-ecological problem exacerbated by disconnected scientific disciplines, competing interests between policy and science, and organized efforts to increase food production.

Managing Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe)–Infested Rangeland after Wildfire

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-189
Author(s):  
Monica L. Pokorny ◽  
Jane M. Mangold ◽  
James Hafer ◽  
M. Kirk Denny
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Spotted Knapweed ◽  
Herbicide Application ◽  
Broadcast Application ◽  
Seed Mixture ◽  
Application Methods ◽  
And Performance

AbstractInvasive plants need to be managed after wildfire to suppress the invasive plant and to maintain or restore a desired plant community. Our study tested treatments that influence species availability and performance following a disturbance (wildfire). The overall objective was to determine the ability of herbicide and revegetation treatments to restore spotted knapweed–infested areas to desired plant communities after wildfire. The study consisted of a factorial combination of three herbicide application treatments (broadcast application, spot application, and no herbicide) and three seed mixture treatments (grass-only seed mix, a grass and forb seed mix, no seeding). Picloram was used for the herbicide. Both the broadcast and spot picloram application methods decreased spotted knapweed cover and density up to 80% while increasing desired grass cover and density up to 20% compared with the control. However, broadcast spraying picloram decreased species richness from 5.7 to 3.6 species 0.1 m−2 and decreased desired forb density and cover compared with spot-applied picloram treatment. Spot spraying resulted in an increase in other undesired forbs compared with broadcast spraying. Seeding with desired species had no effect on spotted knapweed cover or density. Spot spraying may help maintain desired species richness while managing spotted knapweed.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-135 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Dominant drivers of plant community assembly vary by soil type and time in reclaimed forests

Plant Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn E. Trepanier ◽  
Bradley D. Pinno ◽  
Ruth C. Errington
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Vegetative Reproduction ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Soil Types ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Plant Community Assembly

AbstractInformation on plant community assembly mechanisms is limited on forest reclamation sites after mining in the Canadian boreal forest. We assessed the change in plant community composition after Year 2 and Year 5 on species-rich forest floor mineral mix (FFMM) and species-poor peat mineral mix (PMM) reclamation soils by examining assembly mechanisms, i.e., seed bank, seed rain, biotic dispersal, vegetative expansion, and competition. Initial plant cover and diversity were greater on FFMM due to non-native species originating from the seed bank, which had 5× more seeds in the FFMM. By Year 5, both soil types had approximately 40% cover and 80 species richness due to the addition of wind and biotic-dispersed species and were characterized by a shift towards native species. Native forbs using vegetative reproduction expanded up to 2 m from FFMM into PMM. At Year 5 competition does not seem to have a large role in the structuring of the vegetation community. Overall, multiple factors were involved in structuring plant communities on reclamation sites, but we observed a general convergence between plant communities on different soil types in a relatively short period of time.

Temporal dynamics of mycorrhizal fungal communities and co-associations with grassland plant communities following experimental manipulation of rainfall

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coline Deveautour ◽  
Sally Power ◽  
Kirk Barnett ◽  
Raul Ochoa-Hueso ◽  
Suzanne Donn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Fungal Community ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Fungal Communities ◽  
Plant Responses ◽  
Rainfall Regimes

Climate models project overall a reduction in rainfall amounts and shifts in the timing of rainfall events in mid-latitudes and sub-tropical dry regions, which threatens the productivity and diversity of grasslands. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may help plants to cope with expected changes but may also be impacted by changing rainfall, either via the direct effects of low soil moisture on survival and function or indirectly via changes in the plant community. In an Australian mesic grassland (former pasture) system, we characterised plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities every six months for nearly four years to two altered rainfall regimes: i) ambient, ii) rainfall reduced by 50% relative to ambient over the entire year and iii) total summer rainfall exclusion. Using Illumina sequencing, we assessed the response of AM fungal communities sampled from contrasting rainfall treatments and evaluated whether variation in AM fungal communities was associated with variation in plant community richness and composition. We found that rainfall reduction influenced the fungal communities, with the nature of the response depending on the type of manipulation, but that consistent results were only observed after more than two years of rainfall manipulation. We observed significant co-associations between plant and AM fungal communities on multiple dates. Predictive co-correspondence analyses indicated more support for the hypothesis that fungal community composition influenced plant community composition than vice versa. However, we found no evidence that altered rainfall regimes were leading to distinct co-associations between plants and AM fungi. Overall, our results provide evidence that grassland plant communities are intricately tied to variation in AM fungal communities. However, in this system, plant responses to climate change may not be directly related to impacts of altered rainfall regimes on AM fungal communities. Our study shows that AM fungal communities respond to changes in rainfall but that this effect was not immediate. The AM fungal community may influence the composition of the plant community. However, our results suggest that plant responses to altered rainfall regimes at our site may not be resulting via changes in the AM fungal communities.

Classification of woody-shrub vegetation of the forest-steppe complex of Privolzhskaya Upland

2009 ◽  
pp. 27-53
Author(s):  
A. Yu. Kudryavtsev
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Dominant Species ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Vegetation Mapping ◽  
Vegetation Classification ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Mapping Data

Diversity of plant communities in the nature reserve “Privolzhskaya Forest-Steppe”, Ostrovtsovsky area, is analyzed on the basis of the large-scale vegetation mapping data from 2000. The plant community classi­fication based on the Russian ecologic-phytocoenotic approach is carried out. 12 plant formations and 21 associations are distinguished according to dominant species and a combination of ecologic-phytocoenotic groups of species. A list of vegetation classification units as well as the characteristics of theshrub and woody communities are given in this paper.

scholarly journals Responses and Indicators of Composition, Diversity, and Productivity of Plant Communities at Different Levels of Disturbance in a Wetland Ecosystem

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 252
Author(s):  
Tingting Duan ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Zhengjun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Grazing Tolerance ◽  
Organic Matter Concentration ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Different Levels

Grassland tourism is a very popular leisure activity in many parts of the world. However, the presence of people in these areas causes disturbance to the local environment and grassland resources. This study analyzes the composition, diversity, and productivity under different levels of disturbance of the plant communities in the Kangxi Grassland Tourist Area and the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve of Beijing, China. It aims to identify indicators of plant communities and their responses to different levels of disturbance. Our analysis shows that the plant community density and coverage have a certain compensatory increase under disturbed conditions. With the increase in disturbances, more drought-tolerant species have appeared (increased by 5.7%), some of which have become the grazing-tolerance indicator species in the trampled grazed area (TGA). For plant community productivity, biomass and height are good indicators for distinguishing different disturbances (p < 0.05). In addition, several diversity indices reveal the change of plant communities from different perspectives (three of the four indices were significant at the p < 0.05 level). For soil parameters, soil water content and organic matter concentration help to indicate different disturbance levels (the former has a 64% change). Moreover, the standard deviation of the plant community and soil parameters is also a good indicator of their spatial variability and disturbance levels, especially for the TGA. Our analysis confirms that the indicators of productivity, diversity, and soil parameters can indicate the disturbance level in each subarea from different perspectives. However, under disturbed conditions, a comprehensive analysis of these indicators is needed before we can accurately understand the state of health of the plant community.

scholarly journals Shifts in soil and plant functional diversity along an altitudinal gradient in the French Alps

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Stokes ◽  
Guillermo Angeles ◽  
Fabien Anthelme ◽  
Eduardo Aranda-Delgado ◽  
Isabelle Barois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Biophysical Properties ◽  
Tropical Zone ◽  
Soil Microbial

Abstract Objectives Altitude integrates changes in environmental conditions that determine shifts in vegetation, including temperature, precipitation, solar radiation and edaphogenetic processes. In turn, vegetation alters soil biophysical properties through litter input, root growth, microbial and macrofaunal interactions. The belowground traits of plant communities modify soil processes in different ways, but it is not known how root traits influence soil biota at the community level. We collected data to investigate how elevation affects belowground community traits and soil microbial and faunal communities. This dataset comprises data from a temperate climate in France and a twin study was performed in a tropical zone in Mexico. Data description The paper describes soil physical and chemical properties, climatic variables, plant community composition and species abundance, plant community traits, soil microbial functional diversity and macrofaunal abundance and diversity. Data are provided for six elevations (1400–2400 m) ranging from montane forest to alpine prairie. We focused on soil biophysical properties beneath three dominant plant species that structure local vegetation. These data are useful for understanding how shifts in vegetation communities affect belowground processes, such as water infiltration, soil aggregation and carbon storage. Data will also help researchers understand how plant communities adjust to a changing climate/environment.

Unfilled Training Positions in Germany – Regional and Establishment-Specific Determinants

2019 ◽  
Vol 239 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Dummert ◽  
Ute Leber ◽  
Barbara Schwengler
Keyword(s):  
Related Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
Enterprise Level ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Regional Factors ◽  
The One ◽  
Training Position ◽  
Quantitative Importance

AbstractThe current situation in the German apprenticeship market is characterized by two contradictory developments. On the one hand, establishments are experiencing increasing problems filling the training positions they offer, and the number of vacant training positions is climbing. On the other hand, the transition into training is still difficult for many young people, and the number of unsuccessful vocational training applicants is rising. Hence, matching supply with demand is becoming increasingly difficult in the German job market for training positions. Using the Linked Employer-Employee dataset (LIAB) from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), our paper provides a closer examination of the phenomenon of unfilled training positions. It presents an overview of the evolution of vacant training positions in eastern and western Germany and attempts to explain the number of vacancies by investigating the factors responsible for the establishments’ inability to fill their training positions. We assume that training position vacancies are due not only to internal company reasons such as firm size or the wage offer for apprentices but also to external conditions such as general regional factors. Therefore, our analysis also considers the situation on the demand side of the labor market within a region. The results of our multilevel mixed-effects estimations show that in addition to characteristics on the enterprise level, regional determinants also affect the share of vacant apprenticeships. With respect to establishment-related factors, mainly characteristics that describe the attractiveness of the firm prove to be important. With regard to regional-specific factors, we find that the availability of school leavers in a region in addition to the level of regional-sectoral competition impacts the recruiting success of establishments. Our analysis also shows that there are remarkable differences between eastern and western Germany concerning both the quantitative importance of unfilled training positions and the factors affecting them.

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