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Disturbance of biological soil crust increases emergence of exotic vascular plants in California sage scrub

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Abstract

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are comprised of soil particles, bacteria, cyanobacteria, green algae, microfungi, lichens, and bryophytes and confer many ecosystem services in arid and semiarid ecosystems worldwide, including the highly threatened California sage scrub (CSS). These services, which include stabilizing the soil surface, can be adversely affected when BSCs are disturbed. Using field and greenhouse experiments, we tested the hypothesis that mechanical disturbance of BSC increases emergence of exotic vascular plants in a coastal CSS ecosystem. At Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in southern California, 22 plots were established and emergence of exotic and native plants was compared between disturbed and undisturbed subplots containing BSC. In a separate germination study, seed fate in disturbed BSC cores was compared to seed fate in undisturbed BSC cores for three exotic and three native species. In the field, disturbed BSCs had significantly (>3×) greater exotic plant emergence than in undisturbed BSC, particularly for annual grasses. Native species, however, showed no difference in emergence between disturbed and undisturbed BSC. Within the disturbed treatment, emergence of native plants was significantly, and three times less than that of exotic plants. In the germination study, seed fates for all species were significantly different between disturbed and undisturbed BSC cores. Exotic species had greater emergence in disturbed BSC, whereas native plants showed either no response or a positive response. This study demonstrates another critical ecosystem service of BSCs—the inhibition of exotic plant species—and underscores the importance of BSC conservation in this biodiversity hotspot and possibly in other aridland ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Matthew A. Bowker and Scott T. Bates for helpful comments that greatly improved this manuscript. We thank Steven Murray, C. Eugene Jones, and Sean Walker for suggestions during experimental design and data analysis. Maya Mazon played a key role in fieldwork in addition to Amy Arispe, Tamim Sultan, and Vanessa Lopez. Financial support was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, Priority Ecosystems Program; the Society of Women Geographers; California Garden Clubs; California Garden Club of Lake Forest; and CSU Fullerton Arboretum, Associated Students Incorporated, and Department of Biological Science.

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  1. Rebecca R. Hernandez

    Present address: Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton, CA, 92831, USA

    Rebecca R. Hernandez & Darren R. Sandquist

  2. Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Rebecca R. Hernandez

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  1. Rebecca R. Hernandez
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  2. Darren R. Sandquist
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Correspondence to Rebecca R. Hernandez.

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Hernandez, R.R., Sandquist, D.R. Disturbance of biological soil crust increases emergence of exotic vascular plants in California sage scrub. Plant Ecol 212, 1709–1721 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-011-9943-x

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