Tree guards and weed mats in a dry shrubland restoration in New Zealand

Dollery, Rebecca; Bowie, Michael H.; Dickinson, Nicholas

doi:10.1111/emr.12341

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…P. amoena and K. serotina represent a very small number of native New Zealand species that establish quickly and abundantly from seedbanks in limited situations where sources of seed exist ( Dollery , ). These plants appear to grow better in nitrogen‐enriched soils, rapidly utilizing available mineral N. The use of these species, or other native or exotic cover plants, to mop up freely available and mobile N from soil may be advantageous to the restoration trajectory retaining nutrient poor soils.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient‐enriched soils and native N‐fixing plants in New Zealand

Dollery

Dickinson

2018

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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Approximately 40% of New Zealand's land mass is fertilized grassland with entirely non‐native plants, but currently there is substantially increased interest in restoration of native plants into contemporary agricultural matrices. Native vegetation is adapted to more acid and less fertile soils and their establishment and growth may be constrained by nutrient spillover from agricultural land. We investigated plant–soil interactions of native N‐fixing and early successional non N‐fixing plants in soils with variable fertility. The effects of soil amendments of urea (100 and 300 kg N ha−1), lime (6000 kg CaCO3 ha−1), and superphosphate (470 kg ha−1) and combinations of these treatments were evaluated in a glasshouse pot trial. Plant growth, soil pH, soil mineral N, Olsen P and nodule nitrogenase activity in N‐fixing plants were measured. Urea amendments to soil were not inhibitory to the growth of native N‐fixing plants at lower N application rates; two species responded positively to combinations of N, P and lime. Phosphate enrichment enhanced nodulation in N‐fixers, but nitrogen inhibited nodulation, reduced soil pH and provided higher nitrate concentrations in soil. The contribution of mineral N to soil from the 1‐year old N‐fixing plants was small, in amounts extrapolated to be 10–14 kg ha−1 y−1. Urea, applied both alone and in conjunction with other amendments, enhanced the growth of the non N‐fixing species, which exploited mineral N more efficiently; without N, application of lime and P had little effect or was detrimental. The results showed native N‐fixing plants can be embedded in agroecology systems without significant risk of further increasing soil fertility or enhancing nitrate leaching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient‐enriched soils and native N‐fixing plants in New Zealand

Dollery

Dickinson

2018

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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“…In terms of cost, guards are relatively cheap, though some more advanced types, such as Cocoons, will cost extra and should only be used where the benefit would clearly outweigh the increased cost (Carabassa et al 2022). Whereas material for guards adds extra cost during planting, the benefits of the decreased mortality they can provide may offset the cost (Dollery et al 2018), but this will depend on the effectiveness of the guard. It is thus important to first consider whether a guard is necessary, based on the specific conditions of the planting.…”

Section: Tree Guardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global review on arid zone restoration: approaches and challenges

Stapleton,

Bates,

Lewis

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

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Arid environments have become degraded in recent times through human activity highlighting the need for restoration works to reverse this trend. One of the most common forms of restoration works is revegetation. However, revegetation is difficult in the arid zone due to a combination of environmental factors such as low moisture and extreme temperatures, as well as financial and administrative factors. In this review, we investigated the literature describing various methods available for arid revegetation, and assess their utility for revegetation activities. Each of the methods investigated were found to have potential advantages and disadvantages, though some general trends were observed. Two main planting methods were identified, “out‐planting” and “direct seeding.” Which of these methods to use depends on the conditions of the project being undertaken. Out‐planting appeared to be the most suited approach to smaller scale projects with higher budget availability, whereas direct seeding was more suited to large scale, lower budget projects. Weed control prior to planting was identified as being critical for success in most works, whereas soil ripping was beneficial for direct seeding projects. Among the soil amendments investigated, water‐holding gels were most likely to be beneficial, whereas fertilizers were riskier due to their potential to reduce drought tolerance and increase weed invasion. Microbial inoculation with mycorrhiza showed high potential to improve plant performance but may be held back by the lack of suitable commercial sources. Newer seed technologies, such as synthetic seed coats and pellets, show promise, but this issue still requires further research and development.

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“…Specific examples of regeneration have been documented over tens to hundreds of hectares on disturbed land following exotic plantation clear-fell (Lambie & Marden 2020;Forbes et al 2021;Forbes 2021b) or on retired livestock pastures (Allen et al 1992;Wilson 1994;Young et al 2016). In contrast, native tree plantings have been established at comparatively small scales and often in contexts where regeneration processes are dysfunctional, such as where regeneration sites lack sufficient natural propagule sources (Overdyck & Clarkson 2012), are extremely dry (Dollery et al 2018), are weed infested (Wallace et al 2017), or where fundamental biotic impacts such as altered soil hydrology or soil compaction exist (Sullivan et al 2009). While some examples of regeneration within planted native tree stands exist (Reay & Norton 1999), in many cases it appears regeneration and recruitment in native planted stands is constrained (Sullivan et al 2009;Roberts 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowing when native regeneration is for you, and what you should do about it. The Aotearoa New Zealand context

Forbes¹,

Richardson²,

Carswell³

et al. 2023

NZJE

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Forest restoration is an activity that can be readily undertaken to address both the climate and biodiversity crises. In Aotearoa New Zealand, aspirations for large-scale native forest restoration are growing across governmental and private sectors and a considerable focus to date has been on forest establishment by actively planting native trees. In contrast to actively planting trees, considerable proportions of Aotearoa New Zealand have a demonstrated potential for passive tree establishment through natural regeneration processes, subsequent to land use change away from pastoralism or exotic forestry. At a policy and land manager level, knowledge is lacking over the main considerations that should determine whether native restoration will most efficiently be achieved by active tree planting or by natural regeneration. Whether restoration follows active or passive establishment methods (or an intermediate point along the active-to-passive continuum), adequate forest management is essential to achieve high levels of native forest health, functionality, and permanence. We describe a step approach for assessing at a site scale whether forest restoration can most efficiently be achieved via active or passive methods, or combinations of the two. Our assessment covers the main biotic and abiotic factors which explain the probability of native tree establishment. These factors are mean annual rainfall, mean annual air temperature, proximity and composition of adjacent seed sources, landform type, slope aspect, slope, topographic exposure, and the presence of existing woody cover. We then describe the main management interventions that will be required to support successful natural regeneration outcomes and highlight the importance of strategic natural regeneration for achieving large scale restoration for the betterment of both our climate and biodiversity.

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Tree guards and weed mats in a dry shrubland restoration in New Zealand

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

Nutrient‐enriched soils and native N‐fixing plants in New Zealand

Nutrient‐enriched soils and native N‐fixing plants in New Zealand

A global review on arid zone restoration: approaches and challenges

Knowing when native regeneration is for you, and what you should do about it. The Aotearoa New Zealand context

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