To resist establishment by an invasive plant, a community may require one or more species functionally similar to the invader in their resource acquisition pattern. In this study, communities consisting of native winter annual forbs, non-native annual grasses, native perennials, or a combination of the two native communities were established with and without Centaurea solstitialis to determine ...

The objective of this study was to explore the long-term effects of different organic and inorganic fertilizers on activity and composition of the denitrifying and total bacterial communities in arable soil. Soil from the following six treatments was analyzed in an experimental field site established in 1956: cattle manure, sewage sludge, Ca(NO3)2, (NH4)2SO4, and unfertilized and unfertilized b...

Tillage-induced changes in soil properties are difficult to predict, yet can influence evaporation, infiltration and howwater is redistributedwithin the profile after precipitation.We evaluated the effects of sweep tillage (ST) on near surface soil water dynamics as compared with an untilled (UT) soil during a 7-month period. Plots were established in a fallow field devoid of residue under stub...

Wild pigs were established around coastal Spanish settlements in California in the 1800s and expanded over the last century by hunting introductions, domestic releases, and natural dispersal. The current distribution of wild pigs is closely associated with oak woodlands where foraging and rooting by the species may impinge on many native species. Rooting disturbance by wild pigs may be especial...

Restoration of tropical forest depended in large part on seed dispersal by fruit-eating animals that transported seeds into planted forest patches. We tested effectiveness of dispersal agents as revealed by established recruits of tree and shrub species that bore seeds dispersed by birds, bats, or both. We documented restoration of dispersal processes over the first 76 months of experimental re...

a better understanding of rangeland vegetation cover and its variation in different years basedon wetness and droughtiness fluctuations is a great importance. economical priority setting ofrangelands is based on variations in rainfall and drought patterns, because it yields to bettercharacterization of vegetative cover. yet a comprehensive and continuous monitoring ofvegetative cover of rangela...

this study aimed to investigate the effect of animal grazing on soil seed bank characteristics in the northern slopes of alborz. for this purpose, soil seed bank characteristics were compared between grazed and ungrazed areas. therefore, four transects perpendicular to the sides of exclosure inside and outside of it were established. then soil samples were collected within 28 plots inside and 2...