Legumes in prairie restoration: evidence for wide cross-nodulation and improved inoculant delivery

Beyhaut, Elena; Larson, Diane L.; Allan, Deborah L.; Graham, Peter

doi:10.1007/s11104-013-1999-z

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Soil inoculations have been used to increase the performance of late successional species (Carbajo et al ; Middleton & Bever ) and increase legume density and species richness (Beyhaut et al ). Our results indicate that target soil microbes would likely be inhibitory toward plant performance, potentially reducing the growth of all species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant–microbe interactions change along a tallgrass prairie restoration chronosequence

Herzberger

Meiners

Towey

et al. 2014

Restoration Ecology

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Soil microbial communities are critical in determining the performance and density of species in plant communities. However, their role in regulating the success of restorations is much less clear. This study assessed the ability of soil microbial communities to regulate the growth and performance of two potentially dominant grasses and two common forbs in tallgrass prairie restorations. Specifically, we examined the effects of soil microbial communities along a restoration chronosequence from agricultural fields to remnant prairies using experimentally inoculated soils. The two grass species, Andropogon gerardii and Sorghastrum nutans, grew best with the agricultural inoculates and experienced a decline in performance in later stages of the chronosequence, indicating that the microbial community shifted from being beneficial to grasses in the early stages to inhibiting grasses in the later stages of restoration. Growth of the forb, Silphium terebinthinaceum, varied little with inoculation or position along the restoration chronosequence. Growth of Baptisia leucantha, a legume, appeared limited by nodule formation in agricultural soils, peaked in young restoration soils along with nodule formation, but decreased in older soils as the microbial community became more antagonistic. Overall, negative feedbacks tended to be less important early in restoration, but appeared important in remnant and older restored prairies. Our results provide evidence that it may be advantageous for management practices to take negative soil feedbacks into consideration when trying to recreate the diversity of tallgrass prairies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant–microbe interactions change along a tallgrass prairie restoration chronosequence

Herzberger

Meiners

Towey

et al. 2014

Restoration Ecology

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“…Restoring native plant communities and productivity of degraded grasslands is important for food production, biodiversity, and ecosystem services (Bullock, Aronson, Newton, Pywell, & Rey‐Benayas, ; White, Fant, Havens, Skinner, & Kramer, ). Degraded grasslands are frequently characterized by substantially reduced abundance of leguminous species (Jin et al, ), and seeding native legumes in degraded grasslands has great potential for improving grassland quality, including facilitation of long‐term productivity and increased soil nitrogen and carbon sequestration through improved soil aggregate stability (Beyhaut, Larson, Allan, & Graham, ; Mortenson, Schuman, & Ingram, ; Mortenson, Schuman, Ingram, Nayigihugu, & Hesss, ). Furthermore, enhanced soil N contributions from leguminous species may enhance facilitative interactions with non‐N 2 ‐fixing neighbors, benefiting complementarity in grassland plant communities (Loreau & Hector, ), promoting species coexistence, and enhancing plant species diversity (Temperton, Mwangi, Scherer‐Lorenzen, Schmid, & Buchmann, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phosphorus and mowing improve native alfalfa establishment, facilitating restoration of grassland productivity and diversity

et al. 2019

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Seeding legumes into degraded grasslands may effectively replace nitrogen fertilization and restore ecosystem stability by retaining or increasing native plant species diversity while increasing forage production. However, previous research indicated limited legume persistence and potential plant community diversity loss following seeding of legumes into grasslands, constraining successful restoration of degraded grasslands. Our research defined optimal management thresholds for successful legume establishment, reconciling both environmental conservation and production priorities. Large areas of degraded steppe in Inner Mongolia, northeast China, were seeded to either native alfalfa (yellow‐flowered alfalfa: Medicago falcata L.), cultivated alfalfa (purple‐flowered alfalfa: Medicago sativa L.), or left nonseeded (control). Within each seeded area, management treatments (P fertilization or mowing) were assigned to plots in the second year of alfalfa establishment. Our results indicated P amendments and mowing improve native alfalfa establishment, increasing plant productivity while maintaining diverse plant communities, thereby successfully rehabilitating degraded meadow steppe grasslands. However, cultivated alfalfa was not persistent under any management treatment. Alfalfa shoot N and P concentration was linearly related to plant‐available P, indicating P fertilization differentially benefits alfalfa compared with the dominate C3 grass, Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. Mowing successfully increased plant species diversity and plant species asynchrony; however, mowing did not alter the temporal stability of plant community productivity, potentially maintaining or enhancing ecosystem stability. Our research showed promise that native alfalfa seeding combined with P fertilization and mowing can restore degraded grasslands to support both forage production and diverse plant communities.

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“…In recent years, a number of studies have been conducted to understand white prairie clover seed germination (Molano-Flores et al 2011;Schellenberg and Biligetu 2015), rhizobial inoculant delivery (Beyhaut et al 2014), forage and seed yield (McGraw et al 2004), and forage nutritional quality (McGraw et al 2004;Iwaasa et al 2014;Li et al 2014). However, the majority of these studies focused on a single source of white prairie clover germplasm, 'Antelope', which was released in 2000 from the North Dakota and Montana Plant Materials Centers in the USA (Wynia 2008;DePue and Englert 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agro-morphology and forage nutritive value of white prairie clover [Dalea candida(Michx.) Willd.] populations native to the Canadian prairies

2018

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White prairie clover [Dalea candida (Michx.) Willd.] is native to the dry prairies and hillsides of the Northern Great Plains. A study was initiated in 2012 with six white prairie clover populations collected from the Canadian Prairies. Plant growth characteristics, forage biomass, seed yield, and forage nutritive values were evaluated using a randomized complete block design in a field near Swift Current, SK. Three populations from Argyle, Carlowrie, and Big Grass Marsh (NCP588) in Manitoba displayed erect-type growth while those from Douglas Provincial Park and Stewart Valley in Saskatchewan and Writing on Stone Provincial Park in Alberta exhibited prostrate growth. The populations did not differ for mean biomass yield (79–104 g plant−1, p = 0.54) and mean seed yield (6.6–9.1 g plant−1, p = 0.69); however, they differed for bloom stage nutritional parameters such as acid detergent fibre (25%–30%, p = 0.04), neutral detergent fibre (34%–41%, p < 0.01), crude proteins (15%–18%, p < 0.01), phosphorus (0.24%–0.29%, p = 0.02), and iron content (144–360 ppm, p = 0.01). To our knowledge, this is the first report of comparative phenotypic, nutritional, and propagation study of native white prairie clover populations of Canada. The constraints and opportunities for successful domestication of white prairie clover as a forage crop are discussed.

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Legumes in prairie restoration: evidence for wide cross-nodulation and improved inoculant delivery

Cited by 12 publications

References 41 publications

Plant–microbe interactions change along a tallgrass prairie restoration chronosequence

Plant–microbe interactions change along a tallgrass prairie restoration chronosequence

Phosphorus and mowing improve native alfalfa establishment, facilitating restoration of grassland productivity and diversity

Agro-morphology and forage nutritive value of white prairie clover [Dalea candida(Michx.) Willd.] populations native to the Canadian prairies

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