Weed management for landscape scale restoration of global temperate grasslands

Abstract

Globally, temperate grasslands have been significantly degraded as a result of urbanisation, grazing and agriculture. Weeds now dominate most of these ecosystems, resulting in the loss of ecosystem services, reduced carrying capacity for farmers, and reduction of habitat for native plants and animals. This paper reviews the literature relating to temperate grassland restoration efforts across the globe, noting which techniques and combinations have been used successfully to reduce weed dominance and promote native recruitment and establishment. This review concludes that, using a combination of four restoration techniques, provided the highest level of success, with the caveat that, ongoing weed management should be budgeted for in all projects. There is no single optimal method for restoration and weed control, with success depending on specific site conditions and the scope and aims of particular projects. However, any form of target plant transfer was observed to significantly enhance the restoration's success and reduce exotic plant biomass. There is clearly a need for an increase in long‐term monitoring of restoration projects in order to make more confident assumptions.

A Multi-Site Evaluation of Winter Hardiness in Indigenous Alfalfa Cultivars in Northern China

“…The results obtained here have multiple implications to the development of forage industry, enhancement of food security and climate change adaptation and mitigation in China [42]. On the one hand, the successful establishment of alfalfa can provide bulk quantities of high-quality protein forage for animal husbandry, especially for the development of the dairy industry [5,37,40,[43][44][45]. On the other hand, the forage-crop rotation can improve the soil quality, especially in saline-alkaline land, or medium-to low-yielding land areas, which plays a great role in improving soil fertility, consolidating farmland quality, and ensuring food safety and stable production [37,38,43,[46][47][48].…”

“…Moreover, when used in combination with agricultural crops in farming or agropastoral regions, alfalfa has shown benefits in soil function improvement and productivity resilience [7,8,40,49,53]. In a broader spatial context, mosaic landscapes involving alfalfa can provide a range of ecosystem services such as water quality preservation, biodiversity protection, biotic regulation, and stability [3,15,37,43,[54][55][56]. These functions and services are good examples of the win-win options, which are in urgent need in meeting the dual requirements of climate change mitigation and food security enhancement in China and beyond [40,55,57].…”

Ten‐year trends reveal declining quality of seeded pollinator habitat on reclaimed mines regardless of seed mix diversity

“…2007), and combining these strategies appears to be one of the most effective management regimes (reviewed by Humphries et al. 2021). To facilitate the establishment of desired pollinator‐friendly species, these interventions should be timed appropriately (Collins et al.…”

“…Burning and mowing are known to increase prairie forb abundance by stimulating growth and flowering (Risser et al 1981, Collins and Wallace 1990, Williams et al 2007, and combining these strategies appears to be one of the most effective management regimes (reviewed by Humphries et al 2021). To facilitate the establishment of desired pollinator-friendly species, these interventions should be timed appropriately (Collins et al 1998, Williams et al 2007, Jackson and Meissen 2019, Meissen et al 2020.…”

“…If plant communities established using pollinator-oriented seed mixes lose floral richness and flowering plant biomass over time (Wilkerson et al 2014, Benvenuti andBretzel 2017) and are less resistant to establishment of weedy species (Meissen et al 2020), the logistical and financial burden to maintain such communities could be substantial. Appropriately timed burning and mowing can stimulate the growth and flowering of forb species and increase their abundances (Risser et al 1981, Collins and Wallace 1990, Williams and Jackson 2007, Humphries et al 2021. However, mowing and prescribed burning practices also affect patterns of forb community establishment (Collins et al 1998, Forrester andLeopold 2005) and can negatively affect pollinator abundance (Rasmont et al 2005, Saarinen et al 2005 while increasing the cost to establish and maintain pollinator habitat if management practices are continued (Tyndall et al 2013).…”