Soil Seed Bank Composition and Spatial Distribution in a Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.)–Dominated Rangeland in Colorado, USA

Schroeder, Ryan W. R.; Jonas, Jayne L.; Grant-Hoffman, M. Nikki; Paschke, Mark W.

doi:10.3398/064.083.0205

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Post-fire restoration interventions designed to facilitate and hasten the rate of succession to desirable late-seral plant communities are occurring at broad scales in the sagebrush biome, but their effectiveness is highly variable (Young 1992;Monaco et al 2003;Kyser et al 2013). Controlling exotic annual grasses is a vital first step in the restoration of areas they have invaded, because reducing them is key for creating opportunities for desirable species to reestablish (Humphrey & Schupp 2001). Preemergent herbicides can selectively target the requirement of exotic annual grasses to germinate each year with minimal impact to perennials, thereby "releasing" perennial vegetation from competition with exotic annual grasses, and thereby improving the ability of perennials to completely displace exotic annual grasses in the future.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A nontarget, disturbance‐resilient native species influences post‐fire recovery and multiphasic herbicide‐seeding outcomes in drylands threatened by exotic annual grasses

Kluender,

Germino

2023

Restoration Ecology

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Native species that are abundant and persistent across disturbance‐succession cycles can affect recovery and restoration of plant communities, especially in drylands. In the sagebrush‐steppe deserts of North America, restoring deep‐rooted perennial bunchgrasses (DRPBGs) is key to the strategy for breaking an increasingly problematic cycle of wildfire promoted by exotic annual grasses (EAGs) and displacement of perennials by post‐fire increases in EAGs. We asked how Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda, POSE)—a common native grass that shares traits with EAGs such as resilience to disturbance and rapid, shallow‐rooted, early season growth—(1) recovered after wildfire, (2) responded to different combinations of native‐plant seedings of DRPBGs and EAG‐targeting herbicides; and (3) in turn, related to DRPBG recovery. In repeated sampling of up to approximately 2,000 plots spanning 113,000 burned hectares, POSE was initially more abundant than DRPBGs until POSE began to decline 5 years post‐fire, and POSE was marginally affected or unaffected by restoration treatments targeting DRPBGs or EAGs. In comparison, EAG cover decreased 8–16% where preemergent herbicide was sprayed and DRPBG cover increased 3–9% where they were drill‐seeded, and the greatest EAG reductions and DRPBG increases were seen where seeding and herbicides were combined in a time‐staggered fashion. Treatments had less target effects where POSE cover was high (>18%), which is also where EAG cover was scarcer and DRPBG cover greater, regardless of post‐fire interventions. Consideration of the ecological role of disturbance‐resilient species with ruderal characteristics that match traits of key invaders may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of restoration interventions.

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