Rangeland Ecology & Management

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DIVERSITY IS MAGIC: NATIVE SEEDS LEAD TO RESTORATION SUCCESS
Author
Kaye, Thomas N.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

Habitat loss is accelerating globally due to changes in land use, invasive species, and climate change.� About 4% of Earth�s flora is near threatened or already extinct according to the IUCN Red List, an in the United States, approximately 20% of all plant species are non-native.� Habitat restoration with high plant diversity is crucial to restore species and ecosystem services.� Plant diversity increases both community stability over time, and diversity of many other organism below and above ground, including pollinators and others.� In some cases, diversity of invasive species can be high and serve some functions of native species diversity, but invaders tend to homogenize plant communities across the landscape, with the same invaders present and abundant and many locations.� Therefore, restoring with natives is key.� Recent replicated and regional experiments in upland and wetland prairie habitat restoration in Oregon have shown that treatments such as fire can improve habitat quality, but they must be combined with seeding native species to increase diversity. �In addition, even after the effects of grassland management treatments fade over time, diversity boosts from seeding tend to persist for at least five years.� If novel plant communities must be restored in highly degraded landscapes, prioritizing native plants that remain in habitat fragments or invaded sites as community members (i.e., species with demonstrated resilience to climate change and invasion), even if they did not historically co-occur, may increase restoration success. �Seeding with native species is necessary to increase diversity, restore habitats, and enhance ecosystem function.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV