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Ecosystem response to removal of exotic riparian shrubs and a transition to upland vegetation

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Abstract

Understanding plant community change over time is essential for managing important ecosystems such as riparian areas. This study analyzed historic vegetation using soil seed banks and the effects of riparian shrub removal treatments and channel incision on ecosystem and plant community dynamics in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona. We focused on how seeds, nutrients, and ground water influence the floristic composition of post-treatment vegetation and addressed three questions: (1) How does pre-treatment soil seed bank composition reflect post-treatment vegetation composition? (2) How does shrub removal affect post-treatment riparian vegetation composition, seed rain inputs, and ground water dynamics? and (3) Is available soil nitrogen increased near dead Russian olive plants following removal and does this influence post-treatment vegetation? We analyzed seed bank composition across the study area, analyzed differences in vegetation, ground water levels, and seed rain between control, cut-stump and whole-plant removal areas, and compared soil nitrogen and vegetation near removed Russian olive to areas lacking Russian olive. The soil seed bank contained more riparian plants, more native and fewer exotic plants than the extant vegetation. Both shrub removal methods decreased exotic plant cover, decreased tamarisk and Russian olive seed inputs, and increased native plant cover after 2 years. Neither method increased ground water levels. Soil near dead Russian olive trees indicated a short-term increase in soil nitrogen following plant removal but did not influence vegetation composition compared to areas without Russian olive. Following tamarisk and Russian olive removal, our study sites were colonized by upland plant species. Many western North American rivers have tamarisk and Russian olive on floodplains abandoned by channel incision, river regulation or both. Our results are widely applicable to sites where drying has occurred and vegetation establishment following shrub removal is likely to be by upland species.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the US National Park Service (NPS), with additional funds from the Program for Interdisciplinary Mathematics, Ecology and Statistics at Colorado State University (National Science Foundation award #DGE-0221595003). We thank Joel Wagner, Scott Travis, and Elaine Leslie of the NPS, and all the Canyon de Chelly staff for logistical support. We also thank Kris Jaeger, Laurie Gilligan, Renee Petipas, Tara and Farrah Deschine, Frankie Coburn, Jeremiah Barber, Jesse Mike, Nathan Cooper and Emily Nash for tireless field support. Thanks also to Drs. Phil Chapman and David M. Merritt for advice on statistical analyses.

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  1. Department of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Lindsay V. Reynolds & David J. Cooper

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  1. Lindsay V. Reynolds
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  2. David J. Cooper
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Correspondence to Lindsay V. Reynolds.

Appendix: species lists for vegetation and soil seed bank surveys in Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Appendix: species lists for vegetation and soil seed bank surveys in Canyon de Chelly National Monument

See Tables 2, 3, and 4.

Table 2 Herbaceous plant species in vegetation survey plots 2005–2008
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Table 3 Woody plant species in vegetation survey plots 2005–2008
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Table 4 Species list from soil seed bank study 2007
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Reynolds, L.V., Cooper, D.J. Ecosystem response to removal of exotic riparian shrubs and a transition to upland vegetation. Plant Ecol 212, 1243–1261 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-011-9901-7

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