Mechanical land clearing to promote establishment of coastal sandplain grassland and shrubland communities

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2005-07-22Author
Lezberg, Ann L.
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Buresch, Kendra C.
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Neill, Christopher
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Chase, Tom
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/1754As published
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2006.00124.xKeyword
Carex pensylvanica; Clearcut logging; Coastal oak forest; Coastal sandplain; Conservation and management; Gaylussacia baccata; Heathlands; Sandplain grassland; Massachusetts; New England; Schizachyrium scoparium; Vegetation dynamicsAbstract
The decline in grasslands and other species-rich early-successional habitats on the coastal sandplains of the northeastern U.S. has spurred management to increase the area of these declining plant communities. We mechanically removed overstory oak and applied seed from a nearby sandplain grassland on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts to evaluate this technique for creating an open oak community able to support sandplain herbaceous species. We compared vegetation structure and composition before and after clearing in an area of total tree removal (clearcutting), an area where 85% of tree basal area was removed (savanna cutting) and in adjacent coastal oak forest. Plant responses to clearcutting and savanna cutting were similar. Sandplain herbs colonized at high frequencies after seeding and increasing herbaceous cover from <7% before clearing to 22-38% three growing seasons later. Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge) increased in cover ~ 6-fold, accounting for 84-90% of the increased herbaceous cover. Other native ruderals, and exotic herbs reached 6%, 2%, and 1%, cover respectively, after three years. Species richness across cleared treatments increased from 30 to 79 species. All forest species were retained. Forest shrubs and trees initially declined from their dominant cover, but rebounded after three years. Tree clearing plus seeding appeared to be a viable management practice for increasing cover of herbaceous sandplain species while causing minimal increases in exotic herbaceous cover. The long-term persistence of sandplain herbs may require periodic disturbances that limit woody regrowth.
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Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Blackwell Publishing for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Restoration Ecology 14 (2006): 220-232, doi:10.1111/j.1526-100X.2006.00124.x.
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Preprint: Lezberg, Ann L., Buresch, Kendra C., Neill, Christopher, Chase, Tom, "Mechanical land clearing to promote establishment of coastal sandplain grassland and shrubland communities", 2005-07-22, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2006.00124.x, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/1754Related items
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