Growth and competition among understory plants varies with reclamation soil and fertilization

Abstract

Introduction: Following oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada, the main land management goal is to establish a functioning boreal forest ecosystem, including the understory plant community. One of the challenges with restoring the understory is the presence of non-native species that compete with desirable native species for resources. In a greenhouse experiment, we studied the growth of two native understory species (Galium boreale and Vicia americana) and a non-native invasive species (Matricaria perforata) grown with either intra-or interspecific neighbors across three common land reclamation soils and a nitrogen fertilizer treatment. Results: When grown by itself, V. americana aboveground biomass did not differ among soil or fertilizer treatments, likely due to its ability to fix nitrogen. Growth of M. perforata was directly related to soil nitrogen, and it had the greatest increase in biomass with fertilization. Growth and biomass of G. boreale was less than the other species, and it had the highest mortality in the nitrogen-poor soil. When grown together, the proportional biomass of M. perforata and V. americana varied with soil treatment such that M. perforata was dominant in the high-nitrogen forest floormineral mix treatment while V. americana was dominant in the low-nitrogen peat-mineral mix. Conclusions: Operationally, care should be taken when applying fertilizer to reclamation areas, as it may have an unwanted positive effect on growth for undesirable non-native plants at the expense of native species. In terms of seed mixtures, V. americana may be a good option for low inorganic nitrogen resource soils and G. boreale for high nitrogen resource soils.

Enhancing fruit quality of three Physalis sp. throughout foliar nutrition

“…Each species responded differently to the longitudinal and transverse diameters in foliar nutrition applications. This may be based on the availability of the most limiting nutrient for plant development and its efficiency in nutrient utilisation (Buss et al 2018) (Figure 2). The largest P. peruviana fruit achieved using combined nutrients was 16.89 × 16.32 mm.…”

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

“…However, competition will likely play a larger role in structuring the vegetation community in the future once all available growing space is occupied. The initial spike of non-native species on FFMM indicates a combination of species exploiting initial resources (Alday et al 2011;Buss et al 2018;Gingras-Hill et al 2018) and the higher amounts of seeds present within the seedbank in the FFMM (Errington and Pinno 2015;Mackenzie and Naeth 2010). Over time on the FFMM the species cover remained relatively constant but continued to increase on PMM, this is related to the available growing space (bare soil).…”

Effects of torrefied wood chip and vermicompost application on vegetation growth and nutrient uptake in the Saemangeum reclaimed land

“…Similarly, Hansen and Daniel (1985) reported that a lack of weed control practices can result in 50% or more reduction in crop production. Also, Buss et al (2018) suggested that we need to be cautious practically when the fertilizer is applied to reclamation lands because it may induce an unexpected result of high production for undesirable plants with the loss of desirable crop trees. As the initial weed growth in this study was vigorous and well-established before the crop trees were planted, they could take up the soil nutrients better than the crop trees.…”