Changing soils to manage plant communities Andrew Kulmatiski Assistant Professor University of Alaska Anchorage
The problem Ray of hope Future directions
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/ 1981 13 mill. acres
Wet water hyacinth plants can weigh in excess of 200 tons per acre, each acre filling up to 100 truckloads of uncompressed plantsthat that mustbe disposed
Kudzu Kudzu. Brought to this country from Asia as an ornamental. Was developed nearherein the earlypartof the Twentieth Centuryand given to the world as a soil saving high protein forage plant by Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Pleas. The fast growing, deep rooted leguminous vine has been widely grown in the US as a erosion controlling plant that compares with ihalfalfa in pasture and hay making values.
30/140 Hawaiian birds extinct 70/140 endangered 99% of San Francisco Bay biomass 1/4 of Florida plants 2000 1800 1600 $137 Billion USD / year 1400 1200 1000 and getting worse cumulative # of intro oduced species 800 600 400 200 0 1760 1835 1910 1985 Time Adapted form Sailer (1983)
Biocontrol Cactoblastis and Opuntia
Rabbits + Myxomatosis
Larinus minutus, Sphenoptera jugoslavica
4/13 Centaurea biocontrols Urophora quadrifasciata Agapeta zoegena
Screwworm eradication Sterile Insect Technique
Seeded Seeded Seeded + AC Seeded + AC
Native grass, no AC + seed Native grass, AC + seed plot Exotic plants, AC/no seed Exotic plants, control/control plot
50 Non-native Native 40 Gro ound cover (%) 30 20 10 0 Non-native Non-native Native Native Control AC Control AC
Reality bites
Back to the drawing board
Promising but what is going on?
What explains this distribution?
Washington State The Methow Valley 10 mi Bromus tectorum Cardaria draba Centaurea diffusa Poa bulbosa Sisymbrium sp.
Plant soil feedbacks (PSFs) A PLANT B A B A B _ + SOIL _ + _
PSF summary Positive PSFs = dense, persistent monocultures Negative PSFs = diversity
Landscape patterns of plants and soil traits 80 70 60 Tillage boundary % cov er 50 40 30 20 10 0 50 m tilled 5 m tilled 5 m untilled 50 m untilled Distance from historical tillage boundary =exotic vegetation = native vegetation
ic Ground Cove er (%) Percent Exot 100 80 60 40 20 0 60 A) Exotics on tilled soil B) Natives on tilled soil 100 50 40 30 20 Age Since Abandonment (Year) 10 0 tive Ground Co over Percent Nat 80 60 40 20 0 60 50 40 30 20 10 Age Since Abandonment (Year) 0 1 Nmds 0.4 00 0.0-0.4 Two alternative state communities: ii exotic and native -0.8-0.4 0.0 0.4 Nmds 1 Kulmatiski 2006. Plant Ecology.
Soil Survey Decoupling land use from plant growth legacies Undisturbed, d non native Ex arable, native Ex arable, non native Undisturbed, native
Soil Nitrogen Status -1-1 Net N min (mg kg day ) 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Exotic Native Exotic Native Ex-arable Ex-arable Undisturbed Undisturbed Kulmatiski et al. 2006. Journal of Applied Ecology
Soil microbial abundance Total PLFA (n g g -1 ) 200 150 100 50 0 Exotic Native Exotic Native Ex-arable Ex-arable Undisturbed Undisturbed Kulmatiski and Beard 2008. Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Non native native plants create microbially poor, fast N cycling soils that benefit their own growth. Kulmatiski et al. 2006. Journal of Applied Ecology Kulmatiski and Beard 2008. SBB
Experiments What explains this distribution? PSFs? Competition? Shading? g Tillage? Fungal communities?
Percent Cov ver 50 40 30 20 10 40 * 30 * Feedba ack (% cover) 20 10 0 30% Exotic Native Percent Cov ver 50 40 30 20 * * ns 7% 3% 10 ns * Exotic Cover (%) 0 Field: EA NA EA NA Seeded Plants: Exotic Native 50 40 30 20 10 ns 9% 0 Extant Plants: Live Dead None Live Dead None Field: NA EA Seeded Plants: Exotic Native c Cover (%) 50 40 30 * 20 ns Exoti 10 * 11% 0 Tillage: Untilled Tilled Untilled Tilled Field: EA NA Seeded Plants: Exotic Exotic 0 Fungicide: None Fungicide None Fungicide Field: EA NA Seeded Plants: Exotic Exotic
Non native plants create soils that increase their own growth, and. This effect is more important than competition, shading, tillage, fungicide, and seeding. Kulmatiski et al. 2006. Journal of Applied Ecology
Novel weapons Ridenour and Callaway
Management Options?
Non native native Native Allelopathy
Non native native Native Allelopathy PSF
Non native native Native Allelopathy PSF
1 Kg has 1,000,000 m 2 surface area Adsorbs organic molecules not inorganics through Van der Waal s forces Made from coconut, bitumous, lignite, wood Powdered, pelletized, reactivated Iodine number, micropore/macropore
What does it do? Ridenour and Callaway
40 35 30 25 20 15 Triticum Brass. Juncea 10 5 0 No AC / Mono No AC AC No AC AC Live Live Live Sterile Sterile
70 Pisum sativa 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 No AC / No AC AC No AC AC Mono Live Live Live Sterile Sterile 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Poa pratensis No AC / No AC AC No AC AC Mono Live Live Live Sterile Sterile 1 Brass. Juncea 4 Triticum spp. 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 05 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 No AC / Mono No AC AC No AC AC 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 No AC / Mono No AC AC No AC AC Live Live Live Sterile Sterile Live Live Live Sterile Sterile
AC Additioni Exotic plants have dominated the vegetation in this ex arable field since 1955. Following the application of activated carbon (AC) and native seed in 2002, however, the dominant native grass has shown a vigorous response. Thanks to USDA NRICGP/AFRI, Mellon Foundation, Switzer Foundation, UAA, Alaska Epscor, Karen Beard. Kulmatiski and Beard. 2006. Restoration Ecology
AC Additioni Exotic plants have dominated the vegetation in this ex arable field since 1955. Following the application of activated carbon (AC) and native seed in 2002, however, the dominant native grass has shown a vigorous response. Gro ound cover (%) 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 AC Control P. spicata (native) C. diffusa (exotic) L. serriola (exotic) Species Kulmatiski and Beard. 2006. Restoration Ecology
0.5 0.0-0.5 05-1.0-1.5 PSFs: A literature review Native Non-native Weedy Noxious -2.0 Kulmatiski et al. 2010. Ecology Letters Effect Size (d)
PSFs: A literature review 1.0 05 0.5 0.0-0.5-1.0-1.5-2.0 Annual Biennial Per erennial Grass Forb Shrub Tree -2.5 Kulmatiski et al. In press. Ecology Letters Effect Size (d)