Questions: does existing vegetation help or hurt the
IVM goal of creating a self-sustaining, compatible plant community? Do
some compatible species tend to facilitate or inhibit the establishment and
growth of incompatible species? And do these plant interactions vary
systematically across ecosystems?
These questions fall into the domain of “Community
Ecology”. This
looks like a good review paper but I don’t have access to it. Ecology
is notoriously unsystematic, so (without reading the review) I bet the answer
is “Its complicated” and “It depends.”
Here are some papers I was able to
access:
Paper: The role of plant interactions in the restoration of
degraded ecosystems: a meta‐analysis across life‐forms and ecosystems
Relevant Conclusions: Inhibition predominates in
herbaceous communities typical of early‐successional stages, whereas
facilitation prevails in communities dominated by shrubs and trees.
My Comment: IVM that leaves shrubs (like in Sonoran desert)
would probably not create inhibition for tree growth, whereas IVM that leaves
grasses (like Ponderosa habitats) would be expected to inhibit tree growth.
Paper: Is the change of plant–plant interactions with
abiotic stress predictable? A meta‐analysis of field results in arid
environments
Relevant Conclusions: Density data showed that the net
effect of plant neighbours was positive at low abiotic stress and negative at
high abiotic stress levels. However, none of our meta‐analyses indicated
that the magnitude of the net effect provided by plant neighbours, whether
positive or negative, was higher under high abiotic stress conditions, and
facilitation does not therefore appear to increase in importance with abiotic
stress.
My Comment: Results are mixed, but in general deserts do not
show more importance of “nurse plant” facilitation.
No comments:
Post a Comment