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18 results for “dryland restoration”
Directional selection shifts trait distributions of planted species in dryland restoration
<p>1. The match between species trait values and local abiotic filters can restrict community membership. An often-implicit assumption of this relationship is that abiotic filters select for a single locally optimal strategy, though difficulty in isolating effects of the abiotic environment from those of dispersal limitation and biotic interactions has resulted in few empirical tests of this assumption. Similar constraints have made it difficult to assess whether the type and intensity of abiotic filters shift along gradients of environmental harshness, as predicted by the stress dominance hypothesis.</p> <p>2. We planted 9,216 plants of perennial grass and forb species that had a range of functional trait values and were assigned to a warm, intermediate, or cool temperature tolerance pools across eight sites on the Colorado Plateau. We compared the distributions of traits of surviving individuals to null distributions to evaluate whether there were shifts in trait means and variation. Borrowing from phenotypic selection concepts in evolutionary biology, we assessed support for stabilizing, directional, and disruptive abiotic filtering of trait distributions and whether these types of filtering varied with initial species pool.</p> <p>3. Functional composition was significantly different from null distributions for nearly all traits at all sites, with trait variation more restricted in harsher abiotic conditions, supporting the stress-dominance hypothesis. Contrary to expectations, we primarily found evidence for directional selection, which increased in frequency in warm species pools while disruptive selection was found more often in cool and intermediate species pools.</p> <p>4. Synthesis: This study provides a controlled experimental approach to test the effect of the abiotic environment on plant trait filtering. We found that opportunistic strategies allowing for rapid water acquisition during favorable periods improved survival at warmer sites. Species with these strategies may be expected to benefit from increasing aridity and may be selected for active management efforts. More generally, the prevalence of directional selection may have important implications for dynamic vegetation models that rely on trait distributions for translating environmental variation into ecosystem processes.</p>
Functional composition of plant communities mediates biomass effects on ecosystem service recovery across an experimental dryland restoration network
<p>Land degradation can result in a loss of critical ecosystem services that we often seek to restore through re-establishment of desired plant communities. Trait-based approaches have the potential to target specific ecosystem services based on associations between the functional composition of plant communities and ecosystem properties that serve as indicators of those services. The effect of functional composition on ecosystem recovery may depend on the amount of restored plant biomass, itself a supporting service frequently targeted in restoration efforts. Yet, interactions between functional composition and biomass are not formally integrated into trait-based analytical frameworks. We tested the hypothesis that functional composition of plant communities both drives, and interacts with, biomass production to influence indicators of soil functioning and weed suppression across a network of degraded dryland restoration experiments. This networked approach allowed us to identify generalized effects of functional composition on ecosystem recovery across a range of dryland climate conditions. Climate had a substantial effect on ecosystem indicators, with weed cover and soil surface stability increasing in more arid climates, water infiltration increasing with precipitation, and aggregate structure increasing with less freezing. After accounting for climate effects across study sites, we found significant effects of community-weighted mean (CWM) trait values on biomass, particularly a positive effect of leaf carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and of CWM-biomass interactions on other ecosystem indicators. Cover of exotic species was reduced in restored communities with a combination of low leaf dry matter content and high biomass, soil water infiltration increased with lower specific root length and high biomass, and soil aggregate stability increased with higher root dry matter content and high biomass, among other effects. Functional diversity had no significant effects on any ecosystem indicators. Synthesis: The influence of community functional composition on ecosystem properties increases with community biomass, particularly in disturbed or low productivity systems. This suggests that active management should not only focus on trait values that optimize individual ecosystem indicators, but also how those functional strategies are complementary or counter to those that increase biomass.</p>
Data and Code for: Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts
<p>Code and Raw data for:</p> <p>Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts</p> <p><em>Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification, and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live in these areas. Bold global targets have been set for dryland restoration to restore millions of hectares of degraded land. These targets have been questioned as overly ambitious, but without a global evaluation of successes and failures, it is impossible to gauge feasibility. Here, we examine restoration seeding outcomes across 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species. Our findings suggest reason for optimism. Seeding had a positive impact on species presence: in almost a third of all treatments, 100% of species seeded were growing at first monitoring. However, dryland restoration is risky: 17% of projects failed, with no establishment of any seeded species, and consistent declines were found in seeded species as projects matured. Across projects, higher seeding rates and larger seed sizes resulted in a greater probability of recruitment, with further influences of site aridity, taxonomic identity, and species lifeform on species success. Our findings suggest that investigations examining these predictive factors will yield more effective and informed restoration decision-making.</em></p>
Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities shaped by host-plant affect the outcome of plant-soil feedback in dryland restoration
<p><span>1. Plant inoculation with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be a useful tool to overcome challenges in dry forest restoration. However, advances are still needed to guide choices regarding soil origin and inoculum production methods, since outcomes can vary due to plant-soil feedbacks (PSF). We evaluate how soil origin and host plant used for inoculum production affect AMF community and therefore the plant biomass accumulation and functional traits.</span></p> <p><span>2. In the conditioning phase, we investigated whether soils originating from a recovered area (Quarry) and a vegetation fragment (Caatinga) would have their AMF communities modified due to the growth of </span><span>Sorghum bicolor</span><span> (used for inoculum production) and </span><span>Senna uniflora</span><span> (used in Brazilian semiarid restoration). In the feedback phase, we compared the performance of four plants species growing on a degraded soil and inoculated or not by a mixture of AMF isolates in comparison to soil inoculum prepared from the conditioning phase.</span></p> <p><span>3. The inoculum from Caatinga presented seven times more AMF species compared to that from the Quarry, which presented ruderal and stress tolerant species. The soil inoculum conditioned by </span><span>S. uniflora</span><span>, regardless of origin, presented greater evenness compared to the soil inoculum produced with </span><span>S. bicolor</span><span> and promoted 33% more plant biomass compared to the control without inoculation. Root colonization by AMF increased PSF and decreased plant investment in functional traits such as specific root length (SRL) and specific leaf area (SLA).</span></p> <p><span>4. Our results demonstrate the importance of adopting strategies that preserve local adaptation of inoculants produced. The use of native plant for propagation of native AMF in the conditioning phase provided more positive responses for </span><span>Mesosphaerum suaveolens</span><span> and </span><span>Rhaphiodon echinus</span><span> than inoculated with introduced AMF isolates. This is probably due to the interaction of inoculated plants with responsive AMF present in the soil.</span></p> <p><span>5. Synthesis and applications</span><span>:</span><span> Our study shows that conditioning field-collected soil with </span><span>S. uniflora</span><span> and using it for inoculation can be a simple technique to promote biomass accumulation for other native herbaceous species. This preserves the compatibility between the soil inoculum produced with native AMF and native plants, representing an important tool for restoration programs</span><span>. </span></p>
Plant water use strategies predict restoration success across degraded drylands
<ul> <li>Plant strategies for coping with water limitation are likely to mediate restoration outcomes in degraded dryland ecosystems. Tradeoffs in traits related to water acquisition and use can intensify in more arid environments, making their effects on dryland restoration success even more salient. However, isolating the effects of drought responses from those of other environmental factors, as well as identifying the specific drought resistance traits that influence restoration success, can be difficult.</li> <li>In the present study, we couple a controlled dry-down experiment with a cross-site restoration field trial of out-planted seedlings (RestoreNet) using a suite of dryland herbaceous plant species from the same seed sources. We quantified interspecific variation in physiological responses to drought, specifically reductions in stomatal conductance (g<sub>s</sub>) and stem water potential (SWP), by comparing well-watered control plants to those experiencing decreasing soil moisture.</li> <li>Drought responses of SWP and g<sub>s</sub> varied independently among species, but both were related to survival in the cross-site restoration field trial when effect sizes were aggregated across all sites. Responses were consistent with acquisitive water use strategies resulting in greater success, where species with greater declines in SWP or weaker declines in g<sub>s</sub> under drought had greater survival. The correlation between SWP drought response and survival also intensified in sites with lower accumulated precipitation following restoration.</li> <li>Differences among functional groups revealed two different paths to restoration success: forbs that maintain high g<sub>s</sub> and narrow safety margins to maximize exploitation of moisture pulses before going into drought dormancy, or C<sub>4</sub> grasses that maintain efficient water uptake in drying soils while risking cavitation. C<sub>3</sub> grass species varied between these two strategies.</li> <li> <em>Synthesis and applications</em>: Taken together, the results of this study and others conducted at RestoreNet sites indicate that while a diversity of physiological responses to drought may exist in dryland plant communities, successfully restoring herbaceous species through out-planting in degraded conditions is likely to be achieved with species that maximize water uptake via one of two strategies, with tolerance of low SWP being particularly important in the most arid settings.</li> </ul>
Dryland soil restoration meta-analysis data
<p>This dataset was used to conduct a meta-analysis on soil restoration in global drylands. It includes data collected from published literature on experiments of soil-based restoration in dryland environments. Predictor variables included in this dataset are site aridity and percent soil sand, type of restoration treatment used, whether seeding or revegetating was done, and time since restoration. Response variables include the effect of soil restoration on aggregate stability, bulk density, volumetric water content, soil organic carbon, soil nitrogen, mycorrhizal colonization, and basal respiration. The calculated effect size on each of these variables is represented as the log response ratio. </p>
Plant water use strategies predict restoration success across degraded drylands
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Dryland soil restoration meta-analysis data
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Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities shaped by host-plant affect the outcome of plant-soil feedback in dryland restoration
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Data from: Vascular plants promote moss crust restoration by softening the microenvironment near soil surface in dryland ecosystems
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Functional composition of plant communities mediates biomass effects on ecosystem service recovery across an experimental dryland restoration network
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Directional selection shifts trait distributions of planted species in dryland restoration
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Data from: Restoring dryland old fields with native shrubs and grasses: does facilitation and seed source matter?
Restoration of agricultural fields is challenging, especially in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. We conducted experiments in two fields in the Great Basin, USA, which differed in cultivation history and fertility. We tested the effects of different levels of functional diversity (planting grasses and shrubs together, vs. planting shrubs alone), seed source (cultivars, local or distant wild-collections), and irrigation regime (spring or fall and spring) on restoration outcomes. We sowed either: 1) grasses and shrubs in year one, 2) shrubs only, in year one, 3) grasses in year one with herbicide, shrubs in year two, or 4) shrubs alone in year two, after a year of herbicide. We irrigated for two years and monitored for three years. Shrub emergence was highest in the lower fertility field, where increasing functional diversity by seeding grasses had a neutral or facilitative effect on shrub emergence. In the higher fertility field, increasing functional diversity appeared to have a neutral to competitive effect. After declines in shrub densities after irrigation ceased, these effects did not persist. Grasses initially suppressed or had a neutral effect on weeds relative to an unseeded control, but had neutral or facilitative effects on weeds relative to shrub-only seeding. Initially, commercial grasses were either equivalent to or outperformed wild-collected grasses, but after irrigation ceased, commercial grasses were outperformed by wild-collected grasses in the higher fertility field. Local shrubs initially outperformed distant shrubs, but this effect did not persist. Fall and spring irrigation combined with local shrubs and wild-collected grasses was the most successful strategy in the higher fertility field, while in the lower fertility field, irrigation timing had fewer effects. Superior shrub emergence and higher grass persistence indicated that the use of wild and local seed sources is generally warranted, whereas the effects of functional diversity and irrigation regime were context-dependent. A bet-hedging approach that uses a variety of strategies may maximize the chances of restoration success.
Data from: High precipitation and seeded species competition reduce seeded shrub establishment during dryland restoration
Drylands comprise 40% of Earth's land mass and are critical to food security, carbon sequestration, and threatened and endangered wildlife. Exotic weed invasions, overgrazing, energy extraction, and other factors have degraded many drylands, and this has placed an increased emphasis on dryland restoration. The increased restoration focus has generated a wealth of experience, innovations and empirical data, yet the goal of restoring diverse, native, dryland plant assemblages composed of grasses, forbs, and shrubs has generally proven beyond reach. Of particular concern are shrubs, which often fail to establish or establish at trivially low densities. We used data from two Great Plains, USA coal mines to explore factors regulating shrub establishment. Our predictor data related to weather and restoration (e.g., seed rates, rock cover) variables, and our response data described shrub abundances on fields of the mines. We found that seeded non-shrubs, especially grasses, formed an important competitive barrier to shrub establishment: With every one standard deviation increase in non-shrub seed rate, the probability shrubs were present decreased ~0.1 and shrub cover decreased ~35%. Since new fields were seeded almost every year for >20 years, the data also provided a unique opportunity to explore effects of stochastic drivers (i.e., precipitation, year effects). With every one standard deviation increase in precipitation the first growing season following seeding, the probability shrubs were present decreased ~0.07 and shrub cover decreased ~47%. High precipitation appeared to harm shrubs by increasing grass growth/competition. Also, weak evidence suggested shrub establishment was better in rockier fields where grass abundance/competition was lower. Multiple lines of evidence suggest reducing grass seed rates below levels typically used in Great Plains restoration would benefit shrubs without substantially impacting grass stand development over the long term. We used Bayesian statistics to estimate effects of seed rates and other restoration predictors probabilistically to allow knowledge of the predictors' effects to be refined through time in an adaptive management framework. We believe this framework could improve restoration planning in a variety of systems where restoration outcomes remain highly uncertain and ongoing restoration efforts are continually providing new data of value for reducing the uncertainty.
Data from: Resolving neutral and deterministic contributions to genomic structure in Syntrichia ruralis (Bryophyta, Pottiaceae) informs propagule sourcing for dryland restoration
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Data from: Seed and seedling traits suggest ontogenetic coordination in the functional recruitment niche for dryland restoration species
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Data from: High precipitation and seeded species competition reduce seeded shrub establishment during dryland restoration
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Data from: Restoring dryland old fields with native shrubs and grasses: does facilitation and seed source matter?
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