Priority Treatment Leaves Grassland Restoration Vulnerable to Invasion
1
The Holden Arboretum, Kirtland, OH 44094, USA
2
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diversity 2020, 12(2), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020071
Received: 11 January 2020
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Revised: 5 February 2020
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Accepted: 7 February 2020
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Published: 11 February 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community Assembly and Biological Invasions)
Priority effects can be used to promote target species during restoration. Early planting can provide an advantage over later-arriving species, increasing abundance of these early-arrivers in restored communities. However, we have limited knowledge of the indirect impacts of priority effects in restoration. In particular, we do not understand how priority effects impact non-target species. Of particular conservation concern is how these priority effects influence establishment by non-native species. We use a field-based mesocosm experiment to explore the impacts of priority effects on both target and non-target species in California grasslands. Specifically, we seeded native grasses and forbs, manipulating order of arrival by planting them at the same time, planting forbs one year before grasses, planting grasses one year before forbs, or planting each functional group alone. While our study plots were tilled and weeded for the first year, the regional species pool was heavily invaded. We found that, while early-arrival of native grasses did not promote establishment of non-native species, giving priority to native forbs ultimately left our restoration mesocosms vulnerable to invasion by non-native species. This suggests that, in some cases, establishment of non-native species may be an unintended consequence of using priority treatments as a restoration tool.
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Keywords:
assembly; grassland; invasive species; non-native; priority effects; restoration
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MDPI and ACS Style
Stuble, K.L.; Young, T.P. Priority Treatment Leaves Grassland Restoration Vulnerable to Invasion. Diversity 2020, 12, 71. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020071
AMA Style
Stuble KL, Young TP. Priority Treatment Leaves Grassland Restoration Vulnerable to Invasion. Diversity. 2020; 12(2):71. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020071
Chicago/Turabian StyleStuble, Katharine L., and Truman P. Young. 2020. "Priority Treatment Leaves Grassland Restoration Vulnerable to Invasion" Diversity 12, no. 2: 71. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020071
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