Landscape context in colonization of restored dry grasslands by target species

Landscape context and site history, including antecedent site conditions, may constrain restoration potential despite the efforts of restoration practitioners. However, few experimental studies have investigated the relative importance of antecedent site conditions and the intensity of on‐site management in driving restoration outcomes. We established small‐scale prairie restoration experiments within the Lost Mound Unit of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in Illinois, U.S.A. We investigated the effectiveness of two restoration treatments, herbicide application and seeding of native plants, on removal of invasive crown‐vetch (Securigera varia) and recovery of sand prairie plant communities. We replicated treatment plots across 15 locations with three levels of antecedent condition and fire treatment (burned, undegraded; burned, degraded; and unburned, degraded) to determine whether antecedent condition constrained the effectiveness of on‐site restoration. Two years after initial herbicide application crown‐vetch cover was significantly reduced relative to untreated controls. This effect was more pronounced in plots treated twice with herbicide. However, removal of crown‐vetch facilitated invasion by Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). Addition of native prairie seed had little effect on restoration outcomes, regardless of herbicide application. Native community recovery was greater in plots restored in less degraded locations. Herbicide application tended to increase native species cover, but importantly, this effect was significant only in the least degraded locations. Intensive restoration management conducted in degraded landscapes can result in undesirable outcomes such as secondary species invasion. Reestablishment of native species following restoration is more likely where the surrounding remnant communities are intact.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Impacts of management and antecedent site condition on restoration outcomes in a sand prairie

Matthews

Molano‐Flores

Marcum

et al. 2017

“…This increasing biodiversity loss has resulted in the need for restoration of grasslands (Walker et al ). Various methods have been applied in grassland restoration on ex‐arable land (Török et al ; Scotton et al ; Kiehl et al ), but the process of restoration is often a long‐term question and active restoration measures might serve only as a trigger of ecosystem recovery in a long‐lasting succession (Prach et al a ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large areas of crop fields have been restored to grasslands by means of different techniques, including sowing a regional species‐rich seed mixture, sowing commercial, commonly available seed mixtures, and spontaneous succession on mown fallows. However, in all the cases, the restoration sites are also exposed to spontaneous colonization (Prach et al a ). In this study, we evaluate the establishment success of target grassland species, which were not sown but established spontaneously in the restored grasslands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass effects, clonality, and phenology but not seed traits predict species success in colonizing restored grasslands

Mudrák

Fajmon

Jongepierová

et al. 2017

Self Cite

Preserved grasslands commonly host species‐rich plant communities but a large part of the grasslands were plowed up in the past. Their restoration often requires a long time and initial restoration measures might trigger ecosystem recovery, which is then followed by spontaneous colonization. We evaluate the establishment success of target grassland species, which were not sown but established spontaneously in the restored grasslands of Bílé Karpaty Mts., SE Czech Republic. According to their key functional traits and incidence in the landscape (mass effect; acquired from the results of a grid mapping project in the region), we examined the frequency of species and their mean cover in 82 restored grasslands. The best predictor of species frequency in the grasslands was their mass effect, followed by a high capacity for clonal growth and late phenology. Seed dispersal traits (seed mass, terminal velocity, epizoochory ranking index) and plant height had no significant effect. Specific leaf area was positively correlated with mass effect. Species having a high cover in the restored grasslands had a high capacity for clonal growth. In the preparation of seed mixtures, we should therefore consider that nonclonal species relying on regeneration from seeds will be generally less able to reproduce and should be promoted by artificial sowing. At the same time, species common in the landscape, which spread well clonally, and those with a late phenology, might be expected to colonize restored meadows on their own, so that sowing them is not necessary.

“…This is especially true in later stages of successions aged more than 20 years where they usually reached <1% of cover (Řehounková & Prach ; Trnková et al ). These undesirable species generally exhibited lower establishment probability in most of the disturbed sites than desirable species, which is typical if natural and semi‐natural vegetation prevails in the surrounding (Řehounková & Prach ; Prach et al , ). The only exception in the studied sites was black locust ( Robinia pseudacacia ), an alien tree invading various sites in warmer and drier regions of Europe (DAISIE ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In secondary successions, such as on abandoned arable land, restoration of (semi)natural vegetation also depends on these factors because late successional target species rarely occur in the propagule bank (Cramer & Hobbs ). Spontaneous colonization from outside has been predominantly investigated in the case of restoration of seminatural grasslands on ex‐arable land (e.g., Pärtel et al ; Fagan et al , Lencová & Prach ; Knappová et al ; Prach et al ). Generally, spontaneous succession (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do not neglect surroundings in restoration of disturbed sites

Prach

Karešová

Jírová

et al. 2015

Self Cite

We examined the influence of surroundings, i.e. proximity effects, on the course of spontaneous vegetation succession using two data sets. In the first data set, we tested the effects of surrounding vegetation (woodlands, wetlands, grasslands, and synanthropic) on succession in various disturbed habitats in the Czech Republic by comparing successional sites with more natural vegetation within 100 m and at 1 km from each site. The habitats included old fields, gravel-sand pits, spoil heaps from black coal mining, industrially extracted peatlands, and acidic stone quarries. We found that, with the exception of wetlands, the influence of the vegetation types on seral vegetation was nearly always significant using marginal and partial Canonical Correspondence Analyses. In the second data set, which included 27 limestone quarries, we compared species lists outside (up to 100 m apart) and inside the quarries using Detrended Correspondence Analysis and the Sørensen similarity index. We found much higher species similarity between outside and inside particular limestone quarries than among the quarries themselves and among their surroundings, which also indicates that the seral vegetation is decisively influenced by the surroundings. We argue that restoration ecologists should carefully consider the nature of the surroundings of disturbed sites because of its profound impact on restoration processes. They should conduct inventories and prescribe some restoration measures not only inside a restored site, but also in its surroundings.