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Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?

Ecological restoration frequently involves the addition of native plants, but the effectiveness (in terms of plant growth, plant survival, and cost) of using seeds versus container plants has not been studied in many plant communities. It is also not known if plant success would vary by species or b...

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Autores principales: McGuire, Kylie D. F., Schmidt, Katharina T., Ta, Priscilla, Long, Jennifer J., Yurko, Matthew, Kimball, Sarah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8824352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35134054
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262410
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author McGuire, Kylie D. F.
Schmidt, Katharina T.
Ta, Priscilla
Long, Jennifer J.
Yurko, Matthew
Kimball, Sarah
author_facet McGuire, Kylie D. F.
Schmidt, Katharina T.
Ta, Priscilla
Long, Jennifer J.
Yurko, Matthew
Kimball, Sarah
author_sort McGuire, Kylie D. F.
collection PubMed
description Ecological restoration frequently involves the addition of native plants, but the effectiveness (in terms of plant growth, plant survival, and cost) of using seeds versus container plants has not been studied in many plant communities. It is also not known if plant success would vary by species or based on functional traits. To answer these questions, we added several shrub species to a coastal sage scrub restoration site as seeds or as seedlings in a randomized block design. We measured percent cover, density, species richness, size, survival, and costs. Over the two years of the study, shrubs added to the site as seeds grew more and continued to have greater density than plants added from containers. Seeded plots also had greater native species richness than planted plots. However, shrubs from containers had higher survival rates, and percent cover was comparable between the planted and seeded treatments. Responses varied by species depending on functional traits, with deep-rooted evergreen species establishing better from container plants. Our cost analysis showed that it is more expensive to use container plants than seed, with most of the costs attributed to labor and supplies needed to grow plants. Our measurements of shrub density, survival, species richness, and growth in two years in our experimental plots lead us to conclude that coastal sage scrub restoration with seeds is optimal for increasing density and species richness with limited funds, yet the addition of some species from container plants may be necessary if key species are desired as part of the project objectives.
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spelling pubmed-88243522022-02-09 Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings? McGuire, Kylie D. F. Schmidt, Katharina T. Ta, Priscilla Long, Jennifer J. Yurko, Matthew Kimball, Sarah PLoS One Research Article Ecological restoration frequently involves the addition of native plants, but the effectiveness (in terms of plant growth, plant survival, and cost) of using seeds versus container plants has not been studied in many plant communities. It is also not known if plant success would vary by species or based on functional traits. To answer these questions, we added several shrub species to a coastal sage scrub restoration site as seeds or as seedlings in a randomized block design. We measured percent cover, density, species richness, size, survival, and costs. Over the two years of the study, shrubs added to the site as seeds grew more and continued to have greater density than plants added from containers. Seeded plots also had greater native species richness than planted plots. However, shrubs from containers had higher survival rates, and percent cover was comparable between the planted and seeded treatments. Responses varied by species depending on functional traits, with deep-rooted evergreen species establishing better from container plants. Our cost analysis showed that it is more expensive to use container plants than seed, with most of the costs attributed to labor and supplies needed to grow plants. Our measurements of shrub density, survival, species richness, and growth in two years in our experimental plots lead us to conclude that coastal sage scrub restoration with seeds is optimal for increasing density and species richness with limited funds, yet the addition of some species from container plants may be necessary if key species are desired as part of the project objectives. Public Library of Science 2022-02-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8824352/ /pubmed/35134054 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262410 Text en © 2022 McGuire et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
McGuire, Kylie D. F.
Schmidt, Katharina T.
Ta, Priscilla
Long, Jennifer J.
Yurko, Matthew
Kimball, Sarah
Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
title Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
title_full Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
title_fullStr Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
title_full_unstemmed Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
title_short Is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
title_sort is it best to add native shrubs to a coastal sage scrub restoration project as seeds or as seedlings?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8824352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35134054
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262410
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