Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) and yellow starthistle (Centaurea
soistitialis L.) have invaded over 3 million ha of grasslands in the western U.S.
Future management will require an understanding of the conditions,
mechanisms, and processes which control species dominance, community
dynamics, and desirable plant establishment in these alien dominated annual
rangelands....
Seeding is a vital tool to facilitate recovery of degraded ecosystems, but low seedling recruitment rates limit the utility of this practice in a range of ecosystems across the globe. Plant functional traits impact individual fitness through effects on growth, reproduction and survival. Consequently, seed and seedling trait variation among...
Successful ecosystem restoration requires an understanding of the ecological processes directing succession. One of the challenges in the semi-arid grasslands of western United States is replacement of native species by invasive annual grasses. Solutions to this problem require identifying and manipulating ecological processes that direct succession to favor desired vegetation....
Biological plant invasions are diminishing the ecological integrity and function of ecosystems worldwide. A primary example of this is in the Great Basin of the United States, where invasive annual grasses, like cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) and medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae L. Nevski), are dominating many sagebrush-steppe ecosystems. In these invaded...
L. C. Dunn (1893-1974) spent most of his scientific career conducting research in
developmental genetics as a member of the Zoology Department at Columbia
University in the City of New York. He had an accomplished scientific career
researching mutations in mice, which earned him respect from other geneticists and
scientists....
Producers facing infestations of invasive annual grasses regularly voice the need for practical revegetation strategies that can be applied across broad landscapes. Our objective was to determine the potential for scaling up the single-entry approach for revegetating medusahead-infested rangeland to broader, more heterogeneous landscape-scale revegetation of winter annual grass–infested rangeland....
Plant invasion and restoration outcomes
are largely driven by the timing and magnitude of seed
dispersal, and by the performance of dispersed species
in an environment. Because seed dispersal controls
recruitment of newly arriving species and facilitates
safe site occupation, assembly will differ depending
on seed dispersal processes and variable...
Full Text:
restoration of shrub-steppe
Merilynn C. Schantz • Roger L. Sheley •
Jeremy J. James
Received: 8 November
Advancing our ability to use invasive plants for producing commodities is central to the agricultural industry. Our objective was
to evaluate Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens [L.] DC.) as a winter feed supplement for ruminant livestock. In Experiment
1, we utilized three ruminally cannulated steers in a completely randomized design to...
Plant invasion and restoration outcomes
are largely driven by the timing and magnitude of seed
dispersal, and by the performance of dispersed species
in an environment. Because seed dispersal controls
recruitment of newly arriving species and facilitates
safe site occupation, assembly will differ depending
on seed dispersal processes and variable...