Lindstrom Jessica, Ahlering Marissa, Hamilton Jill
Department of Biological Sciences North Dakota State University Fargo North Dakota USA.
The Nature Conservancy Minneapolis Minnesota USA.
Ecol Evol. 2023 Nov 21;13(11):e10756. doi: 10.1002/ece3.10756. eCollection 2023 Nov.
Restoration advocates for the use of local seed in restoration, but theory suggests that diverse seed sources may enhance genetic diversity and longer term evolutionary potential within restored communities. However, few empirical studies have evaluated whether species and genetic diversity within species impacts plant community composition following restoration. The goal of this research is to compare the effects of single and multi-sourced seed mix treatments on plant community diversity following restoration. Species establishment, abundance, and diversity were compared following two restoration seed mix treatments created to include 14 species commonly used in grassland restoration. We compared the application of seed mixes designed using a single population per species with those containing five populations per species across sites in Minnesota and South Dakota, United States. Early plant establishment and richness mostly reflected non-seeded species across both sites, although seeded species established at a slightly higher rate in year two following restoration. At the South Dakota site, community composition largely reflected changes associated with establishment across the growing season as opposed to seed mix treatment. This contrasted with the Minnesota site, where community composition appeared to be strongly influenced by seed mix treatment. While there is some evidence seed mix treatment may be influencing the emergent community across sites, spatial heterogeneity across the Minnesota restoration site likely influenced diversity in early emergence over that of seed mix treatment. Indeed, varying land-use history across both sites likely contributed to differences in species composition observed at this early stage of the restoration. This suggests that seed mix treatment may have limited impact on early post-restoration emergence diversity relative to the importance of land-use history. However, future monitoring will be needed to evaluate whether the impact of seed mix treatment on community composition changes over time.
恢复生态的倡导者主张在恢复过程中使用本地种子，但理论表明，多样化的种子来源可能会增强恢复群落中的遗传多样性和长期进化潜力。然而，很少有实证研究评估物种内部的物种和遗传多样性在恢复后是否会影响植物群落组成。本研究的目的是比较单一来源和多来源种子混合处理对恢复后植物群落多样性的影响。在创建的两种恢复种子混合处理后，比较了物种的建立、丰度和多样性，这两种处理包括14种草原恢复中常用的物种。我们比较了在美国明尼苏达州和南达科他州各地点使用每个物种单一群体设计的种子混合物与每个物种包含五个群体的种子混合物的应用情况。早期植物的建立和丰富度大多反映了两个地点的非播种物种，尽管在恢复后的第二年，播种物种的建立率略高。在南达科他州的地点，群落组成在很大程度上反映了整个生长季节与建立相关的变化，而不是种子混合处理。这与明尼苏达州的地点形成对比，在那里群落组成似乎受到种子混合处理的强烈影响。虽然有一些证据表明种子混合处理可能会影响不同地点的新兴群落，但明尼苏达州恢复地点的空间异质性可能比种子混合处理对早期出现的多样性影响更大。事实上，两个地点不同的土地利用历史可能导致了恢复早期观察到的物种组成差异。这表明，相对于土地利用历史的重要性，种子混合处理对恢复后早期出现的多样性的影响可能有限。然而，需要未来的监测来评估种子混合处理对群落组成的影响是否会随时间变化。
