Changes in Plant Composition Following Disturbance in Restored Native Early Successional Communities

IF 2.4 3区 环境科学与生态学 Q2 ECOLOGY
Bonner L. Powell , J. Wade GeFellers , David A. Buehler , Christopher E. Moorman , John M. Zobel , Craig A. Harper
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Restoration of nonnative grasslands to native early successional plant communities has been a conservation focus throughout the United States for several decades. In the eastern US, where precipitation exceeds 1 000 mm per year, disturbance is necessary following restoration to prevent early successional communities from progressing into woody-dominated midsuccessional communities. Resulting plant composition may vary among disturbance practices, and knowledge of such effects will help direct maintenance of restored native early seral plant communities. We evaluated the effects of the two most common disturbance practices, prescribed fire and mowing, following restoration of nonnative grasslands to native plant communities via two methods: 1) planting native grasses and 2) forbs and seedbank response without planting, across 11 replicated sites in Tennessee and Alabama, 2018–2020. Specifically, we evaluated how disturbance altered vegetation composition following four treatment combinations (planted mowed, planted burned, seedbank mowed, and seedbank burned) and tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) control from predisturbance conditions. Grass coverage increased in all treatment units, but tended to increase more in mowed treatments than burned treatments. Forb coverage declined in all treatments except seedbank burned, where it increased. Similarly, spring-, summer-, and fall-flowering forbs, which are the focus of conservation programs designed to enhance habitat for pollinators, increased most in seedbank burned. Species richness decreased across all treatments and control, except seedbank burned, where it increased. The species evenness did not differ by treatment. Our results provide insight into how disturbance techniques may alter plant community composition soon after restoration. We recommend managers use prescribed fire instead of mowing if increased forb coverage is important to meet objectives. Furthermore, our results highlight how planting native grasses and forbs is not necessary to restore native early successional plant communities on most sites dominated by nonnative grasses in the eastern United States, where precipitation is not limiting succession.
原生早期演替群落恢复后植物组成的变化
几十年来,将非原生草地恢复为原生早期演替植物群落一直是美国的一个保护重点。在美国东部,当年降水量超过1 000 mm时,在恢复后必须进行干扰,以防止早期演替群落向以木材为主的中期演替群落发展。由此产生的植物组成可能因干扰行为而异,了解这种影响将有助于直接维持恢复的原生早期植物群落。2018-2020年,我们在田纳西州和阿拉巴马州的11个重复地点评估了两种最常见的干扰措施(规定火灾和割草)对非原生草地恢复到原生植物群落的影响:1)种植原生草和2)不种植牧草和种子库响应。具体来说,我们评估了四种处理组合(种植刈割、种植焚烧、种子库刈割和种子库焚烧)和高羊茅(Schedonorus arundinaceus)在干扰前的控制下如何改变植被组成。所有处理单元的草盖度均有所增加,但割草处理的草盖度增幅大于烧草处理。除种子库燃烧外,其他处理的植被覆盖度均有所下降。同样,春、夏、秋三季开花的植物——旨在改善传粉昆虫栖息地的保护项目的重点——在种子库烧毁中增加最多。物种丰富度在所有处理和对照中都有所下降,但种子库燃烧的物种丰富度有所增加。物种均匀性不因处理而异。我们的研究结果提供了干扰技术如何在恢复后不久改变植物群落组成的见解。我们建议管理者使用规定的火力,而不是割草,如果增加牧草覆盖是重要的,以满足目标。此外,我们的研究结果强调,在降水不限制演替的美国东部大多数以非本地草为主的地点,种植本地禾草和forbs对于恢复本地早期演替植物群落是不必要的。
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来源期刊
Rangeland Ecology & Management
Rangeland Ecology & Management 农林科学-环境科学
CiteScore
4.60
自引率
13.00%
发文量
87
审稿时长
12-24 weeks
期刊介绍: Rangeland Ecology & Management publishes all topics-including ecology, management, socioeconomic and policy-pertaining to global rangelands. The journal''s mission is to inform academics, ecosystem managers and policy makers of science-based information to promote sound rangeland stewardship. Author submissions are published in five manuscript categories: original research papers, high-profile forum topics, concept syntheses, as well as research and technical notes. Rangelands represent approximately 50% of the Earth''s land area and provision multiple ecosystem services for large human populations. This expansive and diverse land area functions as coupled human-ecological systems. Knowledge of both social and biophysical system components and their interactions represent the foundation for informed rangeland stewardship. Rangeland Ecology & Management uniquely integrates information from multiple system components to address current and pending challenges confronting global rangelands.
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