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The role of plant interactions in restoring arid ecosystems
- 1. THE ROLE OF PLANT INTERACTIONS IN RESTORING ARID ECOSYSTEMS PROGRESS REPORT – MARCH 6 2015 Amanda Liczner, MSc Candidate
- 6. Study site
- 7. Study site
- 8. Purpose
- 9. Chapter 1 A systematic review of the use of interactions for restoring arid and semi-arid ecosystems
- 10. Questions 1. Are positive or negative interactions more frequent 2. What types of interactions are included 3. How frequently are net interactions included 4. Do we consider multiple taxa 5. What types of restoration methods are used
- 11. Search terms (interact* OR facilitat* OR compet* OR mutal* OR nurse OR interfere*) AND (restor* OR rehabilitat* OR recla* OR remediat* OR reveget* OR reforest* OR afforest*) AND (arid OR semi-arid OR desert) =290 articles
- 12. Data extraction Sign, frequency, type of interaction Taxa, sample size Restoration method Geographical data
- 13. Progress to date Processed 15% of articles will have processing complete by May 2015
- 14. Chapter 2 The use of shrubs as a tool for re-establishing native annuals to an invaded arid scrubland
- 16. Hypothesis In the absence of non-native competitors, shrubs facilitate the re-establishment of native annuals due to a reduction in abiotic stress and consumer pressure.
- 17. Predictions 1. Removing non-natives = increased native establishment 2. Open + exclosure will have greater relative effect 3. Shrub + non-native removal = greatest native establishment
- 18. Methods
- 19. Methods
- 20. Methods
- 21. shrub open y n present removal meannumberofplants 0 10 20 30 + exclosure- exclosure First census *** *** ***
- 22. meannumberofseedlings 0 10 20 30 40 50 shrub open + exclosure - exclosure First census
- 24. removal present meannumberofseedlings 0 10 20 30 40 50 + exclosure - exclosure First census
- 25. Chapter 3 The effect of shrub additions and removals on the blunt-nosed leopard lizard in a semi-arid scrubland
- 27. Hypothesis Shrubs and shrub mimics have a positive influence on the activity of Gambelia sila by providing shelter for hunting, light, or predators.
- 28. Predictions 1. Gambelia sila activity highest within shrub sites 2. Shrub removal sites will have an immediate decline in Gambelia sila activity 3. Shrub mimic sites will have a gradual increase in Gambelia sila activity
- 29. Methods
- 30. Methods
- 31. Shrub and scat locations
- 32. Chapter 4 The effect of shrub additions and removals on the plant community in a semi-arid scrubland
- 33. Chapter 4 project designs Mono vs. mixed community Seed density Annual removals Reciprocal soil treatment Decouple legacy vs. canopy effects
- 34. Next steps Timeline Tasks End-March to early-April survey seed addition plots End- April to early-May Prep for shrub removal Early to mid -May shrub removal, lizard survey End-May Process Ch 1 data Summer –Fall 2015 Ch 1 analysis + write-up November 2015 Add phytometer species April 2016 Survey phytometer species May 2016 Lizard activity survey
- 35. Thank you! Dr. Christopher Lortie Dr. Suzanne MacDonald Bureau of Land Management Hollister office Lab members Working Dogs for Conservation
- 36. Phacelia eschsholzia amsinckia total meannumberofseedlings 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 shrub open *** *** ***
- 37. y n removal present RII -1 0 1 + exclosure - exclosure
- 38. Restoration and net interactions Fig 3. Gomez-Aparicio 2009
- 39. Purpose Reduce abiotic stress and herbivory Reduce abiotic stress, provide shelter
- 42. Methods
Editor's Notes
- Hello everyone my name is amanda liczner and today I will be presenting my first progress report for my masters thesis which is looking at the role of interactions for restoration of arid systems
- Restoration attempts to initiate the recovery of a degraded system back to its healthy state. In this example here we had a degraded system at the top and restorationists used fire to help recover the system back to a healthy state as shown in the bottom. I really like to study restoration because it is like solving a mystery or a puzzle, you have a problem and you need to figure out how to solve that problem.
- One important thing to keep in mind when trying to solve these problems is species interactions. It is important to consider species interactions for restoration because they can influence the success of the restoration projects. For example if you are trying to seed acreas of land but this species needs mycorriza fungi to establish and there is none or too few in the soil the plants might not establish, or there is a strong competitor in the system and you seed the area this species might outcompete the plants you are trying to grow and your restoration project could fail. So it is important to keep species interactions in mind for restoration
- And interactions have been incorporated into restoration ecology. Competitive interactions are common in arid system restoration because many of these areas are invaded by non-native species so the focus of these restoration projects is to remove the non-native competitor through different methods and to attempt to increase the abundance of native plant species
- Although competitive interactions are common in arid systems positive interactions or facilitative interactions are also very important in arid systems. This is particularly true for nurse plant interactions whereby the nurse plant (commonly shrubs) ameliorates stressful conditions for the understory plant species which promotes their establishment. This causes plants to be denser under the nurse plant and can create little islands of green underneath the nurse. Although there has been a lot of work conducted on nurse plant facilitation this is a relatively new avenue of research for restoration ecology
- Before I dive too far into my research I want to give a bit of an overview of my study site. My study site is located at Panoche hills which is public land in california. It is located within the san joquin desert near the central valley, and it is called panoche hills for good reason it is located in these rolling hills here. The black box is the location of my study site within the hills.
- Here are some pictures of my study site at the top. The dominant plant in the system is the shrub ephedra californica shown at the top right and this entire system is heavily invaded by non-natives, mainly non-native grasses. This system is also home to the federally listed blunt nosed leopard lizard shown here. There are also a few herbivores in the system including rabbits.
- Purpose: To determine the scope of interactions and methods used in arid, semi-arid and desert restoration studies published to date.
- Are positive or negative interactions more frequent in arid, semi-arid, and desert restoration projects? Are both direct and indirect interactions considered? What types of interactions are included in arid, semi-arid and desert restoration projects? How frequently are net interactions included in arid, semi-arid and desert restoration projects? Do we measure interactions between multiple taxa in arid, semi-arid, or desert restoration projects? How often are manipulative restoration methods used in restoration studies of arid, semi-arid and desert systems? What types of restoration methods are used?
- A systematic literature search was conducted On January 13, 2015 using ISI Web of Science from 1900 -2015 using the following modified search terms from a similar meta-analysis conducted by Gomez-Aparicio (2009): (interact* OR facilitat* OR compet* OR mutal* OR nurse OR interfere*) AND (restor* OR rehabilitat* OR recla* OR remediat* OR reveget* OR reforest* OR afforest*) AND (arid OR semi-arid OR desert). The search result was then refined to English language articles within the ‘ecology’ Web of Science category. This resulted in 290 articles that will be screened for relevance. Retained articles will then have the following data extracted for analysis: the sign, frequency and types of interactions; the number of taxa considered; the number of type of restoration methods employed; and how often these methods are manipulative. Additional information will also be extracted including: study location, duration of study, type of disturbance leading to restoration efforts, number of factors, response variable monitored, and restoration goals.
- Ecology, ecological applications, ecological engineering, journal of applied ecology USA china spain Overgrazing, erosion, invasion, 1995-2010 Direct Positive and negative Survival Biomass Abundance diversity richness Height Root colonization RGR Percent cover
- Purpose: To test the capacity for shrubs to promote the re-establishment of native annuals in an invaded semi-arid scrubland. Describe the site
- Removing non-native annual competitors will increase native annual establishment. The exclosure will have the greatest relative effect in the open as the shrub already mediates the effect of consumer pressure Native annual establishment will be greatest within the shrub, particularly when non-native annual competitors are removed
- Open with exclosure vs open without exclosure NS Shrub with vs shrub without sig Shrub with vs open with sig
- Purpose: To determine the effect of removing a dominant shrub species and adding a shrub mimic on the blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila), an endangered lizard species, in a semi-arid scrubland.
- Gambelia sila activity will be highest within the control shrub sites relative to all other sites At shrub removal sites, there will be an immediate decline in Gambelia sila activity to levels observed for control open sites At shrub mimic sites, there will be a gradual increase in Gambelia sila activity eventually increasing towards the activity levels observed for shrub control sites.
- In arid systems the nurse plant is commonly shrubs Has been studied before Affect of shrubs on woody species infrequently on annuals Have considered net interactions: the effect of the understory on the shrub Commonl
- In arid systems shrubs are commonly used as the nurse species Incorporate interactions into restoration, including net interactions Specifically this will be done with shrubs to test their ability to act as a restoration tool through their interactions with the plant and animal community For my project I will be testing the ability for a shrub species to facilitate the re-establishment of native plants to a highly invaded semi-arid system and I will also be testing the importance of shrubs to an endangered leopard lizard. For native plant re-establishment the interaction with the shrub is likely positive as the shrub will likely be reducing abiotic stress and herbivory The interaction with the shrub and the lizard will also likely be positive as the shrub will also be reducing abiotic stress, providing shade, potentially shelter and a place to hunt or hide from predators Commonly study competition increased research into facilitation and restoration has been encouraged