[APWG] Ecosystem restoration and management Methodology Allelopathy Field trials etc. Re: Better version--Test plots and transects before the cereal rye moves in

[Wayne Tyson]

Forum:

Sorry for the previous mis-post--clicked inadvertently. .

This looks pretty good to me; my only comments might be that the "toe 
survey" protocol (normally one cuts a notch in the toe [good for large 
areas]), but surveys need to include some microscopic analysis if one is 
interested in (and can afford) info on emerging species, cryptobiotic crust 
development, etc., and the main function of a permanent plot is to plot 
change; I would suggest bending a loop in the rebar for safety; one also can 
use antennas cut to the specific frequency of the detector; a bit more 
expensive--well, a lot, but more resistant to damage; I ). Pounding the 
rebar down as deeply as possible without compromising later detection after 
the data collection phase will minimize both hazard and destruction (except 
by rusting, which will happen in any case. Plastic caps also can be used. I 
prefer circular plots with only a center and a radius bar, with the plots 
separated to avoid edge effects and facilitate later detection and proper 
definition. Perhaps there are more modern alternatives of which I am unaware 
. . .

Thanks especially, Craig, for the links.

There's a lot to learn about allelopathic effects, such as how they act, 
upon which part of the plant they act, and whether the process is operative 
above ground or only below ground, or both. I know of no research that has 
measured volatile chemical effects in canopies, for example, if they exist 
at all--this from my own causal observations, not from disciplined research. 
Back in the 60's and 70's it seems that there was a lot of academic 
disagreement among researchers like C. H. Muller and ? I haven't kept up 
with that specific literature, so there may be (I hope) less disagreement 
now. Some have questioned whether or not the whole business is more myth 
than reality, but I have observed some pretty suspicious behavior among 
plant populations that I could not otherwise account for. I spent the better 
part of a day with Muller in the 70's, and he couldn't explain it either. 
That indicated to me that he was honest.

Then there're other effects working "with" and "against" allelopathogens 
that can affect data.

WT


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wayne Tyson" <landrest at cox.net>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 3:43 PM
Subject: Ecosystem restoration and management Methodology Allelopathy Field 
trials etc. Re: [APWG] Better version--Test plots and transects before the 
cereal rye moves in


>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
> To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 8:58 AM
> Subject: [APWG] Better version--Test plots and transects before the cereal 
> rye moves in
>
>
> Dear Wayne, Tony and All,
>
> Thanks for your email, and this is the better version of this posting.
>
> If you read through the article -- <The allelopathic phenomenon, a
> dynamic process>  by Francisco A. Macías, Alberto Oliveros-Bastidas, David
> Marín, Diego Castellano and José M.G. Molinillo at
> http://www.regional.org.au/au/allelopathy/2005/1/2/2647_maciasfa.htm?print=1
> from Google Scholar, that article covers the cereal rye allelochemical
> that Dr. Liu was also working on---it is a PHENOL.
>
> ALL plants produce in greater or lesser amounts, these natural
> herbicide-like chemicals, and they are like the poker hand that they deal
> out to the ecosystems.  For example, the bean family has very strong
> allelochemicals, to keep the grasses away from the nitrogen that the roots
> of the bean family are producing.
>
> I have been using the allelochemical effects for all my weed management
> and ecological restoration project for over two decades, and to become
> intimately aware of these chemicals and their effects is to have an
> awesomely powerful tool, that can take care of 99% of your weed and
> restoration work for you.
>
> The more details you can measure in your test plots, when you plant the
> local native plants into a weed patch,  and measure their interactions,
> the faster you are going to be able to convert those weed areas back to
> local native plants in the future.
>
> MATHEMATICAL constants for allelopathy -- And if you can convert those
> weed/native plant interactions into mathematics, like a scale of 1 to 100,
> with 1 being the weakest allelochemical effect, and 100 being the
> strongest, then you can start assigning a mathematical constant for the
> relative effect of each species.
>
> For example, Yellow Star Thistle, which is considered a very bad, very
> invasive weed here in California covering about 25 million acres and
> showing no sign of stopping yet, turns out to only be a five, which means
> that it is not invasive at all.
>
> Yellow star thistle, contrary to popular belief, is just a default weed,
> only growing where the California native ecosystem has been exterminated.
> If you play the poker-game with yellow star thistle, sowing in almost any
> native plant, beats a 5.
>
> TONY's ryegrass petri dish at
> http://www.unps.org/olyhills/secalearea081509.jpg is a perfect picture.
> There are at least three things going on in that picture.  A monoculture
> of cereal rye, and some relic natives able to withstand what looks on the
> surface, to be an invasive weed.
>
> IS THE CEREAL RYE REALLY INVASIVE, or is it just taking advantage of a
> vacancy sign that we have put out in the ecosystem--is the cereal rye just
> filling in gaps in the native ecosystem caused by grazing, and maybe from
> soil problems, like I show at http://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html ?
>
> Looking at the photo at http://www.unps.org/olyhills/secalearea081509.jpg,
> judging from the relic grasses and natives that are marked in the picture,
> obviously 100-200 years ago, those native species grew in a greater
> density, like close to 100% cover in between the trees and shrubs.  Today,
> it looks like 1% native grass cover, so before the cereal rye came in,
> what was growing between the bushes, in that area that is now cereal rye?
>
> USE THE RELIC NATIVES as a indication of what species need to be in your
> test plots.
>
> 1.) TEST PLOT SIZE.  I start with one by 2 meters for each treatment, and
> stake the corners with wood stakes, except in expansive clays that would
> pop the stakes out overwinter, then I use rebar.   That is what is show of
> the photo of a set of test plots on the web page at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html
>
> 2.) START GRASS SEEDLINGS -For the cereal rye test plots, I would start
> some native grass seedlings now in flats of potting soil, and plant them
> out in three months in the fall when the ground is moist after some rain,
> and plant them out bare rooted at different densities, with single species
> in each plot.
>
> 3.) HARVEST LOCAL SEEDS - I would be harvesting local native seeds of
> various other native broadleaf plants, to sow directly into the test
> plots.  Try and get seed of the local native bean family, native sunflower
> family, native cucumber or native tomato family, and native Indian
> paintbrush family, for example.
>
> If you have wild sunflowers in the area, Heterotheca or Grindelia, they
> are some of the strongest allelopathic members of our western ecosystems.
> Also any weedy native that cattle and sheep hate to eat or is poisonous to
> them, is always great for your test plots.
>
> 4.) MIMIC THE LARGER AREA - However you set up your cereal rye test plots,
> will need to be the same way you would convert the whole area back to
> natives eventually.  That is what I show in the pictures at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html, which was a 100 mile by 50 foot
> wide pipeline.
>
> 5.) TRANSLATABLE - Any seed-sowing in test plots must be translatable to
> large scale.  So whatever you do, or what we did in the test plots, had to
> be translatable into a 100 mile long planting.  Part of the project was to
> conserve the large rocks that were in the right-of-way on the surface, and
> in the Great Basin, lichens usually grow on the upper rock surface.  Part
> of the restoration required that the large rock be put back on the
> surface, and we joked that they all need to be put back, lichen-side up.
>
> 6.) PLANTING SEEDLINGS - The purpose of planting native plant seedlings in
> the test plots, is to see how those particular native species interact
> with the weeds, not to expect that you are going to be planting out plants
> in the larger area.
>
> 7.)  EX-SITU TEST POTS.  And always go your two EX-SITU test pot, one pot
> with the local soil and the other with potting soil, and as I said in my
> other email, give them the same conditions as your other test plots---do
> not put them in a greenhouse for example.
>
> As soon as possible, I would do very exacting measurements of the
> percentage cover of all of the native and exotic species at the edge of
> the cereal rye, so you get a very accurate before-picture of the
> composition and interaction of the ecosystem, before the cereal rye moves
> into that area.  My guess is, that you are only going to find less than
> 10% native grass cover, and maybe a lot of bare ground, or ground covered
> by other, much smaller exotics?
>
> The quick and easy method, is to establish a permanent line, toe-point
> transect, and go a good distance with it, like 800-1,000 feet or more, and
> note at each step, what plant your toe is stepping on, and also note bare
> ground and rocks.
>
> INVASIVES may turn out to just be default weeds, holding the soil, waiting
> for you to sow back the natives.
>
> I was hired to work with the US Forest Service on the Tarweed problem in
> the Franklin Basin in Idaho about 12 years ago.  Three generation of
> researchers since the 1920s had been working, without any successes at
> all,  to get something to grow in this solid monoculture of tarweed that
> extends from Idaho to New Mexico at about 7-8,000 feet.
>
> Fortunately, tarweed is a local native, and was the last of over 100
> species of native that originally covered the area, before they were
> grazed to the dust by sheep and cattle in the 1800s.
>
> Tarweed was looked at as a horrible invasive weed, but it was really just
> a default plant, patiently holding the soil, and waiting for us to sow
> back the rest of the 100 species, to bring back the ecosystem.
>
> That is what I proposed,  and that is what finally worked in the test
> plots, that were sown with the original local native species.  The fourth
> generation of researchers, finally cracked the case of the Rocky Mountain,
> solid tarweed patches.
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
>
>
>
>
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