Inducing competition: intensive grassland seeding to control Ambrosia artemisiifolia. (27th February 2015)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Inducing competition: intensive grassland seeding to control Ambrosia artemisiifolia. (27th February 2015)
- Main Title:
- Inducing competition: intensive grassland seeding to control Ambrosia artemisiifolia
- Authors:
- Gentili, R
Gilardelli, F
Ciappetta, S
Ghiani, A
Citterio, S
Zwerger, Peter - Abstract:
- <abstract abstract-type="main" id="wre12143-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p>The invasion of <italic>Ambrosia artemisiifolia</italic> across European countries has been favoured by its ecological amplitude and by its ability to colonise and dominate disturbed/ruderal areas that have lost competition from native species. We supposed that a strong competition for habitat resources may inhibit <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> growth, generating a negative feedback to its establishment. Based on this hypothesis, in this study, we undertook a 1‐year field experiment to assess the effect of mixtures of grassland species on <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> growth and fitness in bare soils. We applied three different treatments within an abandoned quarry area invaded by <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic>: (i) spontaneous succession, (ii) hayseed and (iii) a commercial seed mixture. Within plots, we recorded vegetation parameters, <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> abundance and traits. Results obtained after one growing season showed that the commercial seed resulted in the strongest reduction of <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> growth rate in terms of plant height, lateral spread and leaf size. This was ascribed to higher density of plants that play a key role in reducing biomass and fitness of <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic>. However, hayseed should be preferred, as it preserves local biodiversity. Seeding mixtures of grassland species can successfully suppress<abstract abstract-type="main" id="wre12143-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p>The invasion of <italic>Ambrosia artemisiifolia</italic> across European countries has been favoured by its ecological amplitude and by its ability to colonise and dominate disturbed/ruderal areas that have lost competition from native species. We supposed that a strong competition for habitat resources may inhibit <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> growth, generating a negative feedback to its establishment. Based on this hypothesis, in this study, we undertook a 1‐year field experiment to assess the effect of mixtures of grassland species on <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> growth and fitness in bare soils. We applied three different treatments within an abandoned quarry area invaded by <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic>: (i) spontaneous succession, (ii) hayseed and (iii) a commercial seed mixture. Within plots, we recorded vegetation parameters, <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> abundance and traits. Results obtained after one growing season showed that the commercial seed resulted in the strongest reduction of <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> growth rate in terms of plant height, lateral spread and leaf size. This was ascribed to higher density of plants that play a key role in reducing biomass and fitness of <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic>. However, hayseed should be preferred, as it preserves local biodiversity. Seeding mixtures of grassland species can successfully suppress <italic>A. artemisiifolia</italic> in the first year of establishment on a vegetation‐free soil derived from quarry activities. This study indicated that inducing dominance of different native species in a newly developing plant community should enhance competition for resources, reducing the success of early coloniser non‐native species.</p> </abstract> … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Weed research. Volume 55:Number 3(2015:Jun.)
- Journal:
- Weed research
- Issue:
- Volume 55:Number 3(2015:Jun.)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 55, Issue 3 (2015)
- Year:
- 2015
- Volume:
- 55
- Issue:
- 3
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2015-0055-0003-0000
- Page Start:
- 278
- Page End:
- 288
- Publication Date:
- 2015-02-27
- Subjects:
- Weeds -- Control -- Periodicals
Herbicides -- Periodicals
632.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/member/institutions/issuelist.asp?journal=wre ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3180 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/wre.12143 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0043-1737
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 9284.400000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 3648.xml