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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2022
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8824352 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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