Woody plant encroachment into coastal grasslands: consequences for soil properties and plant diversity

Kinnebrew, Eva; Champlin, Lena K.; Galford, Gillian L.; Neill, Christopher

doi:10.1007/s10113-020-01687-6

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Grassy ecosystems require active management to mitigate, halt and reverse encroachment. Considering that long‐lasting environmental changes, such as altered soil chemistry, can be a product of encroachment and barrier to restoration (Kinnebrew et al, 2020), it would be most effective to prevent or mitigate encroachment in its early stages. In fire‐adapted ecosystems, there is a clear need for appropriate fire regimes to promote plant diversity and heterogeneity within ecosystems (Abreu et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Impacts on the herbaceous flora range from lowering the overall abundance of herbaceous plants (Fiedler & Landis, 2012), functional turnover and reduced diversity (Pilon et al, 2021), to causing localised extinctions (Abreu & Durigan, 2011). Furthermore, according to the studies compiled, medium to high encroachment changes soil nutrients, often altering the patterns of nitrogen fixation or decreasing pH (Kinnebrew et al, 2020; Zehnder et al, 2020), and persistently decreases ground layer light availability (Taylor et al, 2016). Encroachment can also lead to nutrient deficiencies due to efficient nutrient removal by the encroacher (Baker et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Encroachment can also lead to nutrient deficiencies due to efficient nutrient removal by the encroacher (Baker et al, 2020). Similarly, there are repeated observations of not only increased soil moisture detrimental to native plant diversity (Gleadow & Ashton, 1981;Kinnebrew et al, 2020;Pinheiro et al, 2016) but also water deficiency due to increased competition for water resources and higher evapotranspiration (Abreu & Durigan, 2011;Baker et al, 2020). The increasing extent of encroachment decreases the physical space available aboveground (Wood et al, 2020), and belowground through increased root density (Scanlan, 1988).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some studies, long-term declines in grazer numbers contributed to encroachment but grazing reintroductions alone are often insufficient for restoration due to reduced forage quality and changed habitat structures (Zehnder et al, 2020). While mechanical removal or mowing can be implemented, it is resource-intensive and expensive, restricting the capacity for application (Kinnebrew et al, 2020). (Costello et al, 2000;Laris, 2002;Stevens et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…spinescence) traits; and with lower herbaceous biomass, woody plant growth is supported by increased resource availability (Coetzee et al, 2008; Estell et al, 2012; O'Connor et al, 2014; Walker et al, 1981). However, grazing abandonment can also result in encroachment (Guardiola et al, 2013; Kinnebrew et al, 2020), whereas reductions in browsers lead to encroachment through reduced pressure on adult plants and seedling regeneration (O'Connor et al, 2014). Land fragmentation disrupts fire regimes and restricts animal movements (Rosan et al, 2019; Stevens et al, 2017) with the global burned area having declined by 25% in the last two decades, and where the largest decreases occurred in tropical grassy ecosystems (Andela et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Encroachment diminishes herbaceous plant diversity in grassy ecosystems worldwide

Wieczorkowski

Lehmann

2022

Global Change Biology

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Woody encroachment is ubiquitous in grassy ecosystems worldwide, but its global impacts on the diversity of herbaceous plants that characterise and define these ecosystems remain unquantified. The pervasiveness of encroachment is relatively easily observed via remote sensing, but its impacts on plant diversity and richness below the canopy can only be observed via field‐based studies. Via a meta‐analysis of 42 field studies across tropical to temperate grassy ecosystems, we quantified how encroachment altered herbaceous species richness, and the richness of forbs, C3 graminoids and C4 graminoids. Across studies, the natural logarithm of the response ratio (lnRR) of herbaceous species richness ranged from −3.33 to 0.34 with 87% of encroached ecosystems negatively impacted. Assessment of the extent of encroachment, duration of encroachment, mean annual rainfall, latitude, and continent demonstrated that only extent of encroachment had relevance in the data (univariate model including a random effect of study explained 45.4% of variance). The global weighted mean lnRR of species richness decreased from −0.245 at <33% of woody cover increase, to −0.562 at 33%–66%, and to −0.962 at >66%. Continued encroachment results in substantial loss of herbaceous diversity at medium and high extents, with a loss of richness that is not replaced. Although all functional groups are significantly negatively impacted by encroachment, forb richness is relatively more sensitive than graminoid richness, and C4 graminoid richness relatively more than C3 graminoid richness. Although no geographic or climatic correlates had relevance in the data, encroachment as an emergent product of global change coalesces to decrease ground layer light availability, lead to loss of fire and grazers, and alter hydrology and soils. Encroachment is accelerating and grassy ecosystems require urgent attention to determine critical woody cover thresholds that facilitate diverse and resilient grassy ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Encroachment diminishes herbaceous plant diversity in grassy ecosystems worldwide

Wieczorkowski

Lehmann

2022

Global Change Biology

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The effect of woody encroachment on taxonomic and functional diversity and soil properties in Cerrado wetlands

Trindade,

Ferreira,

Costa

et al. 2024

Flora

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Application of Multi-Plant Symbiotic Systems in Phytoremediation: A Bibliometric Review

et al. 2023

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The bibliometric analysis technique was used to retrieve 232 relevant publications from the Web of Science core database published between 2002 and 2022. The basic characteristics of the literature were analyzed, and keyword co-occurrence analysis and literature co-citation analysis were performed. The results demonstrated the following: (1) The total number of publications on phytoremediation utilizing a multi-plant symbiosis system increased year by year, indicating that multi-plant symbiosis systems have garnered significant interest in the field of phytoremediation in recent years. (2) “Short rotation coppice” (#0), “straw” (#1), “heavy metal” (#2), “soil enzymes” (#3), “glomus caledonium” (#4), and “phenanthrene” (#5) comprise the research hotspots in this field both domestically and internationally, where the #0 clusters, #2 clusters, and #5 clusters indicate that the application of multi-plant combinations has not formed a new branch in the field of phytoremediation during 2007–2017. In addition, the #1 clusters, #3 clusters, and #4 clusters indicate that the safety of agricultural land, the mechanism of action of soil enzymes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi comprise research hotspots in recent years. (3) “Heavy metal contamination” (#0), “agro-mining” (#1), “Leguminosae” (#2), “soil enzymes” (#3), “soil microbial community” (#4), and “Salix caprea” (#5) constitute the domestic and international knowledge base of this field, with a study of soil microbial communities regarded as the cutting-edge branch of this field. (4) The specific influencing factors of multi-plant symbiotic systems include plant diversity, interspecific relationships, and the gender of plant species, and the mechanisms of action include the plant–soil feedback mechanism, enhanced plant resistance mechanism, increased detoxification pathway, and plant–plant interaction mechanism. Finally, future research on phytoremediation using multi-plant symbiotic systems should focus on the following four aspects: exploring the applicable environment of multi-plant symbiotic systems as a remediation strategy; analyzing the remediation mechanism from multiple perspectives: atmosphere–plant–soil; combining physicochemical and biological technologies to improve remediation efficiency; and establishing a dynamic model to evaluate remediation effects.

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Woody plant encroachment into coastal grasslands: consequences for soil properties and plant diversity

Cited by 3 publications

References 77 publications

Encroachment diminishes herbaceous plant diversity in grassy ecosystems worldwide

Encroachment diminishes herbaceous plant diversity in grassy ecosystems worldwide

The effect of woody encroachment on taxonomic and functional diversity and soil properties in Cerrado wetlands

Application of Multi-Plant Symbiotic Systems in Phytoremediation: A Bibliometric Review

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