Although aboveground metrics remain the standard, restoring functional ecosystems should promote both aboveground and belowground biotic communities. Restoration using salvaged soil—removal and translocation of topsoil from areas planned for development, with subsequent deposition at degraded sites—is an alternative to traditional methods. Salvaged soil contains both seed and spore banks, which may holistically augment restoration. Salvaged soil methods may reduce non-native germination by burying non-native seeds, increase native diversity by adding native seeds, or transfer soil microbiomes, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), to recipient sites. We transferred soil to three degraded recipient sites and monitored soil microbes, using flow cytometry and molecular analyses, and characterized the plant community composition. Our findings suggest that salvaged soil at depths ≥5 cm reduced non-native grass cover and increased native plant density and species richness. Bacterial abundance at recipient sites were statistically equivalent to donor sites in abundance. Overall, topsoil additions affected AMF alpha diversity and community composition and increased rhizophilic AMF richness. Because salvaged soil restoration combines multiple soil components, including native plant and microbial propagules, it may promote both aboveground and belowground qualities of the donor site, when applying this method for restoring invaded and degraded ecosystems.
Restoring biodiversity to degraded sites in the wildland–urban interface is challenging due to many factors, including competition with non‐native species and increased herbivore pressure. In a unique collaboration between land managers, environmental educators, students, and academic ecologists, we tested the effectiveness of multiple restoration techniques in an adaptive management framework, modifying methods each year based on results in the previous years. We evaluated the impact of non‐native species and rabbit herbivores on soil moisture and native plant growth. We added native seedlings to our site either immediately adjacent to existing native shrubs (potential nurse plants) or in the open. One native species, Artemisia californica, was significantly negatively influenced by the presence of an existing shrub and grew more in the open in both a wet and a dry year. Another native species, Eriogonum fasciculatum, experienced high mortality by rabbit herbivores when it was not protected by fencing. Fencing also increased abundance of non‐native plants, so a combination of fencing and non‐native removal without a nurse plant was optimal for restoration. Soil moisture was greater in the open than under existing native shrubs, indicating that existing shrubs decreased soil water available to seedlings. Data collected by trained students was indistinguishable from that collected by professional ecologists. Our use of community‐engaged science demonstrates how scientific adaptive management experiments can include a diversity of participants and allow for immediate dissemination and implementation of results.
Ecological restoration frequently involves the addition of native plants, but the effectiveness (in terms of plant growth, plant survival, and cost) of using seeds versus container plants has not been studied in many plant communities. It is also not known if plant success would vary by species or based on functional traits. To answer these questions, we added several shrub species to a coastal sage scrub restoration site as seeds or as seedlings in a randomized block design. We measured percent cover, density, species richness, size, survival, and costs. Over the two years of the study, shrubs added to the site as seeds grew more and continued to have greater density than plants added from containers. Seeded plots also had greater native species richness than planted plots. However, shrubs from containers had higher survival rates, and percent cover was comparable between the planted and seeded treatments. Responses varied by species depending on functional traits, with deep-rooted evergreen species establishing better from container plants. Our cost analysis showed that it is more expensive to use container plants than seed, with most of the costs attributed to labor and supplies needed to grow plants. Our measurements of shrub density, survival, species richness, and growth in two years in our experimental plots lead us to conclude that coastal sage scrub restoration with seeds is optimal for increasing density and species richness with limited funds, yet the addition of some species from container plants may be necessary if key species are desired as part of the project objectives.
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