[PCA] ARTICLE: Filling the interspace—restoring arid land mosses: source populations, organic matter, and overwintering govern success

[De Angelis, Patricia]

 Condon, LA & DA Pyke. 2016.  Filling the interspace—restoring arid land
mosses: source populations, organic matter, and overwintering govern
success.  Ecology and Evolution 2016; 1-10. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2448

(This article cites the National Seed Strategy!)

Abstract
Biological soil crusts contribute to ecosystem functions and occupy space
that could be available to invasive annual grasses. Given disturbances in
the semiarid shrub steppe communities, we embarked on a set of studies to
investigate restoration potential of mosses in sagebrush steppe ecosystems.
We examined establishment and growth of two moss species common to the
Great Basin, USA: Bryum argenteum and Syntrichia ruralis from two
environmental settings (warm dry vs. cool moist). Moss fragments were
inoculated into a third warm dry setting, on bare soil in spring and fall,
both with and without a jute net and with and without spring irrigation.
Moss cover was monitored in spring seasons of three consecutive years. Both
moss species increased in cover over the winter. When Bryum received spring
irrigation that was out of sync with natural precipitation patterns, moss
cover increased and then crashed, taking two seasons to recover. Syntrichia
did not respond to the irrigation treatment. The addition of jute net
increased moss cover under all conditions, except Syntrichia following fall
inoculation, which required a second winter to increase in cover. The warm
dry population of Bryum combined with jute achieved on average 60% cover
compared to the cool moist population that achieved only 28% cover by the
end of the study. Differences were less pronounced for Syntrichia where
moss from the warm dry population with jute achieved on average 51% cover
compared to the cool moist population that achieved 43% cover by the end of
the study. Restoration of arid land mosses may quickly protect soils from
erosion while occupying sites before invasive plants. We show that higher
moss cover will be achieved quickly with the addition of organic matter and
when moss fragments originate from sites with a climate that is similar to
that of the restoration site.

REQUEST REPRINT OF FULL ARTICLE BY EMAIL from the USGS Forest and Rangeland
Ecosystem Science Center:
https://fresc.usgs.gov/products/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductNumber=73450
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20170208/0c18f381/attachment.html>