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- Title
Effects of Unpaved Road Soils on Persistence of Three Non-native Grass Species.
- Authors
Gordon, Dorta R.; Greenberg, Cathryn H.; Crownover, Stanley H.; Stapcinsky, Jodi L.
- Abstract
Amended roadsides, with their modified fertility, soil structure, and disturbance regimes, may provide invading plant species access into adjacent natural communities. We experimentally tested whether soil amendments alone or in combination with the environmental conditions of roadsides facilitate invasion by non-native grass species into xeric sand pine scrub in Ocala National Forest, Florida. In 1995 we planted seeds of three non-native grasses (bahiagrass [Paspalum notatum] Flüggé, centipede grass [Eremochloa ophiuroides] [Munro] Hack., and natal grass [Ryncheletrum repens] [Willd.] C.E. Hubb.) in plots of three road-soil types (two amended road-soils: clay and limerock-clay, and one unamended natural soil: sand). Factorial combinations of seeds and soil were reciprocally placed both along clay roadsides and in interior sites that were parallel to the roads in adjacent clearcuts of xeric sand pine scrub (n = 4 blocks). Initial establishment was higher than was persistence in the plots four years later. In 1995, species frequency was similar in roadside and interior plots. By 1999 only centipede grass persisted in the interior plots, while all species were present in the roadside plots. In both years, non-native species frequency was greater on clay than on limerock-clay or sand soils. In 1999, natal grass was found only, and centipede grass was more frequent on amended than on unamended roadside plots. No non-native grasses were found in sand soils in interior sites in 1999. Our results indicate that the xeric, sandy soil of interior sand pine scrub is relatively inhospitable to the non-native grasses tested, and that both clay soils and other roadside conditions facilitate their persistence.
- Subjects
FLORIDA; GRASSES; FOREST reserves; SEEDS; SOILS; LODGEPOLE pine
- Publication
Natural Areas Journal, 2005, Vol 25, Issue 3, p257
- ISSN
0885-8608
- Publication type
Article