Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts

Shackelford, Nancy; Paterno, Gustavo Brant; Winkler, Daniel E.; Erickson, Todd E.; Leger, Elizabeth A.; Svejcar, Lauren N.; Breed, Martin F.; Faist, Akasha M.; Harrison, Peter A.; Curran, Michael F.; Guo, Qinfeng; Kirmer, Anita; Law, Darin J.; Mganga, Kevin Z.; Munson, Seth M.; Porensky, Lauren M.; Quiroga, R. Emiliano; Török, Péter; Wainwright, Claire E.; Abdullahi, Ali; Bahm, Matt A.; Ballenger, Elizabeth A.; Barger, Nichole N.; Baughman, Owen W.; Becker, Carina; Lucas‐Borja, Manuel Esteban; Boyd, Chad S.; Burton, Carla M.; Burton, Philip J.; Calleja, Eman J.; Carrick, Peter J.; Caruana, Alex; Clements, Charlie D.; Davies, Kirk W.; Deák, Balázs; Drake, Jessica; Dullau, Sandra; Eldridge, Joshua; Espeland, Erin K.; Farrell, Hannah L.; Fick, Stephen E.; Garbowski, Magda; Riva, Enrique G. de la; Golos, Peter J.; Grey, Penelope A.; Heydenrych, Barry; Holmes, Patricia M.; James, Jeremy J.; Jonas-Bratten, Jayne; Kiss, Réka; Kramer, Andrea T.; Larson, Julie E.; Lorite, Juan; Mayence, C. Ellery; Merino‐Martín, Luis; Miglécz, Tamás; Milton, Suanne Jane; Monaco, Thomas A.; Montalvo, A. M.; Navarro‐Cano, José A.; Paschke, Mark W.; Peri, Pablo Luís; Pokorny, Monica L.; Rinella, Matthew J.; Saayman, Nelmarie; Schantz, Merilynn C.; Parkhurst, Tina; Seabloom, Eric W.; Stuble, Katharine L.; Uselman, Shauna M.; Valkó, Orsolya; Veblen, Kari E.; Wilson, Scott D.; Wong, Megan; Xu, Zhiwei; Suding, Katharine L.

doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01510-3

Cited by 89 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Second, only the seed treatment phase of the restoration process was considered, although seedbased restoration also involves costs associated with preparing the site for seeding, sourcing seed, delivering seed, monitoring and other facets (Erickson & Halford, 2020;Shaw et al, 2020). Third, seeding success was defined by emergence, although restoration goals may include improving ecosystem services, such as livestock forage or reduced fire risk, developing habitat or matching a reference condition (Kimball et al, 2015;Shackelford et al, 2021). However, because emergence is often the most important bottleneck in seed-based restoration, it often correlates with other metrics of success (James et al, 2011(James et al, , 2019Kimball et al, 2015;Hardegree et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Direct seeding is often utilized in ecological restoration to re‐establish native plant communities following disturbance or weed invasion (Erickson et al., 2017; Leger et al., 2019; Shackelford et al., 2021). Biotic and abiotic stressors commonly inhibit seeding efforts in dryland regions of the world (Aradottir & Hagen, 2013; Svejcar et al., 2017), which frequently results in low or sporadic success, despite large expenditures (Bodin et al., 2021; Kildisheva et al., 2016; Kimball et al., 2015; Knutson et al., 2014; Shackelford et al., 2021). For many species, most of the mortality that contributes to seeding failure occurs during the critical demographic period between germination and emergence (Hardegree et al., 2020; James et al., 2011, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Direct seeding is often utilized in ecological restoration to re-establish native plant communities following disturbance or weed invasion (Erickson et al, 2017;Leger et al, 2019;Shackelford et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Improving dryland seedling recruitment using fungicide seed coatings

Hoose

Geary

Richardson

et al. 2022

Ecol Sol and Evidence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The success of seed‐based restoration in dryland regions of the world is often low or sporadic, with most mortality occurring between germination and emergence. Fungal pathogenesis is one process that may reduce seedling emergence and limit restoration success. Our objective was to determine whether fungicide seed coatings constitute an economically viable strategy for increasing emergence by reducing fungal pathogenesis and mortality. We performed an experiment across two sites and three years, using bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) as a model species. We found that fungicide coatings increased germination by 8.8% and emergence by 54.0% on average compared to the control. A cost analysis indicated that the fungicide coating was economically viable with an average estimated effective cost reduction of 18.8% under the study conditions. There was a strong interaction (P < 0.001) between the effects of the fungicide coating, site and year on emergence. The fungicide coating increased emergence compared to the control in five of the six sites and years, with the effect ranging from a 33.7% decrease (P = 0.042) to a 150.9% increase (P = 0.004). The observed interaction was likely related to the effect of the hydrothermal microsite environment on disease severity. In the site and year that the fungicide coating performed worse than the control, prolonged periods of exceptionally low soil moisture may have reduced disease severity through a variety of individual and community scale mechanisms. Overall, these results indicate that fungicide seed coatings have the potential to improve dryland restoration efforts.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Improving dryland seedling recruitment using fungicide seed coatings

Hoose

Geary

Richardson

et al. 2022

Ecol Sol and Evidence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This strategy contributed to the successful establishment and survival of the selected grass species. Other studies (e.g., Shackelford et al 2021;Mganga et al 2015) have also demonstrated that timing is strongly associated with successful seedling establishment in dryland environments. Poor physical properties are exacerbated by low organic matter contribute to low water-holding capacity of dryland soils, limiting its water storage capacity (Lal 2001).…”

Section: Rainfall Pattern and Plant Establishmentmentioning

confidence: 81%

Combining Rainwater Harvesting and Grass Reseeding to Revegetate Denuded African Semi-arid Landscapes

Mganga

Bosma²,

Amollo

et al. 2021

Anthr. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In African drylands, perennial grasses preferred by grazing livestock are disappearing at an alarming rate. This has led to recurrent livestock feed shortages threatening pastoralist’s livelihoods. Combining native grass reseeding and rainwater harvesting offers a viable and innovative solution to reverse this trend. However, studies to determine how biomass yields are affected by soil moisture availability attributed to in situ rainwater harvesting in African drylands are limited. We investigated how biomass yields of three grasses native to Africa, i.e., Enteropogon macrostachyus (Bush rye grass), Cenchrus ciliaris (African foxtail grass), and Eragrostis superba (Maasai love grass), are affected by soil moisture content in a typical semi-arid landscape. Rainwater harvesting structures included trenches, micro-catchments and furrows. Additionally, rain runoff was diverted from an adjacent road used as a catchment area. Soil moisture was measured between November 2018 and August 2019 using PlantCare Mini-Logger sensors installed at 40 and 50 cm depths and 0, 1, 5 and 15 m away from the trench. Quadrat method was used to determine biomass yields in August 2019. Peaks in soil moisture were observed after rainfall events. Soil moisture content gradually decreased after the rainy season, but was higher closer to the trench. This is attributed to the prolonged rainwater retention in the trenches. Biomass yields were in the order Eragrostis superba > Cenchrus ciliaris > Enteropogon macrostachyus. Biomass production was higher near the trenches for all the studied species. Sensitivity to soil moisture demonstrated by the magnitude to yield reduction during the growing season was in the order Eragrostis superba > Cenchrus ciliaris > Enteropogon macrostachyus. These results suggest that Eragrostis superba is more sensitive to drought stress than Enteropogon macrostachyus that is adapted to a wide range of soil moisture conditions. We demonstrated that in situ rainwater harvesting structures enhanced soil moisture availability and displayed great potential for revegetating denuded natural rangelands in semi-arid African landscapes. Thus, combining rainwater harvesting and reseeding techniques can produce measurable improvements in pastoral livelihoods and should be incorporated in dryland development policies in the region. Ultimately, incorporating such innovative strategies can strengthen the effectiveness of ecological restoration in African drylands to meet the objectives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Graphical abstract

show abstract

“…Dry landscapes are some of the most difficult to restore (Shackelford et al 2021). Regeneration is usually very slow and primary productivity is low (Banyas et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New approaches for revegetating agricultural landscapes to provide connectivity for wildlife: The example of the Tasmanian Midlands, Australia

Davidson¹,

Bailey²,

Burgess³

et al. 2021

Eco Management Restoration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is an ongoing search for cost-effective, practical and successful methods for landscape-scale restoration required to meet the challenges posed by the United Nations Decade on Restoration 2021-2013. Mechanised cultivation techniques (rip mounding and Wilco spot cultivation), a range of revegetation strategies (dense reafforestation, riparian corridors, vegetation islets and scattered tree plantings) and best horticultural practice were employed to successfully establish extensive areas of local native trees and shrubs in highly altered agricultural landscapes within the Midlands of Tasmania, Australia. This region has been intensely farmed for the last 200 years and is characterised by past failures in native tree plantings. Between 2009 and 2018, 1800 ha were revegetated with a suite of hardy local native species to enhance, buffer and connect native vegetation remnants. These techniques were applied at a landscape scale to create biodiversity corridors that crossed the Midlands. Riparian corridors 100-200 m wide were created along 21 km of riverbank at an average density of 440 stems/ha. Fenced vegetation islets and individually caged scattered trees were established within and surrounding native vegetation remnants, at an average density of 143 stems/ha. Whole paddocks were densely reafforested at up to 800 stems/ha. Despite this, re-establishing structurally complex and species diverse native vegetation, which can provide habitat for local native animals, proved challenging. In areas highly altered by a long history of farming, repeated interventions and long-term relationships with landholders will be needed to achieve restoration objectives.

show abstract

Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts

Cited by 89 publications

References 45 publications

Improving dryland seedling recruitment using fungicide seed coatings

Improving dryland seedling recruitment using fungicide seed coatings

Combining Rainwater Harvesting and Grass Reseeding to Revegetate Denuded African Semi-arid Landscapes

New approaches for revegetating agricultural landscapes to provide connectivity for wildlife: The example of the Tasmanian Midlands, Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About