Abstract
Acting under the auspices of the US Endangered Species Act, we quantified wind erosion and its effects on rare and common plant species on a semi-arid military installation in Hawaii. Our goal was to develop management strategies, based on local data, to aid the conservation of rare and common indigenous plants and their habitats. We collected windblown soil coming off of roads and other disturbed soils to assess likely impacts to plants occurring at certain heights and distances from disturbed surfaces. We then subjected plants in a glasshouse to windblown dust treatments, designed from our field data to simulate erosion events, and evaluated the effect of these treatments on photosynthesis and survival. We also designed several field experiments to examine the in-situ effects of windblown soil and soil substrate on germination, growth rate, and survival of indigenous and nonindigenous plants. We conclude from these experiments that most direct effects of windblown soil to plants can be effectively mitigated by locating roads and training areas at least 40 m from sensitive plant habitats and through vegetation management to maintain at least 11% aerial cover on disturbed surfaces. Effects of soil type on germination, growth, and survival was species-specific, emphasizing the importance of species trials prior to, or during, rehabilitation efforts.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the U.S. Army, Garrison Hawaii. We would like to thank the PTA Commander, LTC Fred Clarke, as well as U.S. Army Environmental personnel Joel Godfrey and Alvin Char for their support of the study. We also thank Kathy Kawakami and Sydney Cardea for providing their technical expertise in the glasshouse. We are also grateful for the participation of the USF&WS, Honolulu Office for their kind patience and collaboration on the study.
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Gleason, S.M., Faucette, D.T., Toyofuku, M.M. et al. Assessing and Mitigating the Effects of Windblown Soil on Rare and Common Vegetation. Environmental Management 40, 1016–1024 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9004-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9004-3