‘Invasion debt’ after extensive land-use change: An example from eastern Australia

Lebbink, Gabrielle; Dwyer, John M.; Fensham, Rod

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114051

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…It is also important to note that at all properties and sites in this study, with the exception of R6, the exotic stoloniferous grass Bothriocloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus ('Indian couch') has largely displaced native tussock grass pastures (Kutt and Fisher 2011). The conversion from tussock to B. pertusadominated pastures typically occurs following long-term moderate to heavy grazing of fragile land types (O'Reagain et al 2018) and B. pertusa now covers large areas of grazing land in GBR catchments (Lebbink et al 2021(Lebbink et al , 2022.…”

Section: Study Sites and Designmentioning

confidence: 87%

Do regenerative grazing management practices improve vegetation and soil health in grazed rangelands? Preliminary insights from a space-for-time study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, Australia

et al. 2023

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Regenerative grazing, which generally involves some form of rotational grazing with strategic rest, is increasingly seen as a profitable management approach that will accelerate landscape recovery. However, there is limited quantitative evidence supporting the benefits of this approach in northern Australia. This space-for-time study collected vegetation and soil data from a range of properties in the Burdekin catchment in Queensland that have implemented regenerative grazing strategies for between 5 and 20 years. Data were also collected at adjacent control sites that did not undergo regenerative grazing, but where more traditional continuous set-stocking grazing approaches were applied. Coincident data were also collected from several sites where grazing had been excluded for ~30 years. Data suggested that improvements in vegetation, soil and land condition can be obtained from implementing regenerative grazing principles, although it is likely to take at least 3-5 years, and up to 15-20 years for statistically significant improvements to be measurable at a site, particularly for areas that are moving from a degraded baseline condition. Vegetation attributes such as plant biomass and basal area and litter incorporation all appeared to be better surrogates than percentage ground cover for representing improved landscape condition and soil health. Sites that maintained remotely sensed percentage ground cover at or above the minimally disturbed reference benchmark levels for >10 years, as well as having statistically higher biomass, basal area and litter, had significant increases in total nitrogen (TN) and soil organic carbon (SOC) relative to the local control site. Although there are indications that regenerative grazing can lead to improvements in land condition, this study does not enable us to conclude whether regenerative grazing will accelerate improvements compared with other best-practice grazing land management (GLM) approaches, and further research on the social and economic dimensions of regenerative grazing is needed.

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Section: Study Sites and Designmentioning

confidence: 87%

Do regenerative grazing management practices improve vegetation and soil health in grazed rangelands? Preliminary insights from a space-for-time study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, Australia

et al. 2023

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“…In fragmented landscapes, landscape-scale land-use change may lead to future increases in invasive species surrounding many forests. Thus, propagule pressure is likely to increase over time, leading to invasion debt even in older forest patches in these fragmented landscapes (Vilà and Ibáñez 2011;Lebbink et al 2022).…”

Section: Invasion Debtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term patterns and mechanisms of plant invasions in forests: the role of forest age and land-use history

Jones,

Yamamoto

2024

Biol Invasions

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It has become increasingly apparent that even mature forests are susceptible to plant invasions. However, invasive plants are often more abundant in younger forest stands. It is difficult to disentangle possible mechanisms that would explain this pattern due to the scarcity of long-term studies in successional forests. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain patterns of invasions as forests age, including biotic resistance, window of opportunity, historical legacies, and invasion debt. We explored patterns and potential mechanisms of plant invasions over 70 years in a regenerating forest with different land-use histories in the Bolleswood Natural Area, Connecticut, USA. We examined how environmental factors related to colonization patterns of invasive and non-invasive introduced species over time, and whether these patterns were consistent with the proposed mechanisms. Non-invasive introduced species declined rapidly with canopy closure, while many invasive plants persisted or even increased over time as the forest aged. Colonization was focused in younger post-agricultural areas, although this declined with time. Dispersal distance, soil conditions, and land-use history played important roles in patterns of colonization, while the effect of shading was less clear. There was some evidence for each mechanism, but the relative importance of each mechanism was species-dependent, making generalizations about how invasive plants invade forests difficult. We found that land-use history impacted invasion more strongly than forest age, but over time even mature forests were slowly being invaded by some species. Thus, invasive species management may be required even in mature forests.

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“…Surveys conducted throughout Queensland's grassy woodland ecosystem in 1995-6 across the southern and central Queensland found B. pertusa in only 1 of 207 survey sites. We resurveyed 92 of these sites in 2018 and found B. pertusa in 43 sites and at greater than 20% cover in nine sites (Lebbink et al 2022). It's spread within the Gayndah area has likely been even more recent with two producers here suggesting that although it has been present for ~ 25 years (mostly along roadsides) its dominance within the pasture has only become noticeable in the last ve years (personal communication, 7 July 2019).…”

Section: Spreadmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘lawnification’ of Australia’s eastern grassy woodlands: The past, current and likely future spread of a damaging pasture and lawn grass, Bothriochloa pertusa

Lebbink

Fensham²

2022

Preprint

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Many of today’s damaging invasive plants were intentionally introduced for pasture development. By examining the introduction history and consequent spread of these species, we can identify factors associated with their successful establishment and dominance. Using collated presence/absence and cover data, alongside a review of the literature and discussions with land managers, we present a comprehensive analysis of the introduction history and spread of the invasive perennial grass species, Bothriochloa pertusa throughout Queensland, Australia. Using this data, we also perform habitat suitability models to predict its potential distribution and local-scale cover across Queensland in relation to key environmental variables. We found that B. pertusa was introduced on multiple occasions and across a large area of Queensland, despite re-occurring doubts and poor evidence for its benefit to livestock production. Livestock grazing, associated disturbances (i.e. land clearing, soil erosion) and climatic extremes were commonly associated with its spread throughout the landscape. In 2020 the main area of B. pertusa invasion as indicated by occurrence records spanned 28,537,600 ha. Results from the habitat suitability models suggest the occurrence and local-scale cover of B. pertusa is largely determined by climate variables and the foliage projective cover of trees. Based on these results B. pertusa still has considerable capacity to spread and increase in dominance across many areas of Queensland, particularly further west and south of its current range. The introduction and spread history of B. pertusa suggests propagule pressure, traits, climate, land management and cultural perceptions are all key factors implicated in the spread of B. pertusa. We recommend more conservative grazing strategies and strategically selected protected areas to slow the spread of this species.

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‘Invasion debt’ after extensive land-use change: An example from eastern Australia

Cited by 9 publications

References 45 publications

Do regenerative grazing management practices improve vegetation and soil health in grazed rangelands? Preliminary insights from a space-for-time study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, Australia

Do regenerative grazing management practices improve vegetation and soil health in grazed rangelands? Preliminary insights from a space-for-time study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, Australia

Long-term patterns and mechanisms of plant invasions in forests: the role of forest age and land-use history

The ‘lawnification’ of Australia’s eastern grassy woodlands: The past, current and likely future spread of a damaging pasture and lawn grass, Bothriochloa pertusa

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