Woody plants can cause localized increases in resources (i.e., resource islands) that can persist after fire and create a heterogeneous environment for restoration. Others have found that subcanopies have increased soil organic matter, nitrogen, and carbon and elevated post-fire soil temperature. We tested the hypothesis that burned sagebrush subcanopies would have increased seedling establishm...

Over the last century, North Carolina has seen a severe reduction in the percentage of wetlands and a rise in negative environmental impacts related to this loss. To counter these effects, efforts have been enacted to mitigate wetland loss and create new wetland areas. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of hydrological restoration at several sites in the North Carolina coastal...

Exotic annual grasses are a major challenge to successful restoration in temperate and Mediterranean climates. Experiments to restore abandoned agricultural fields from exotic grassland to coastal sage scrub habitat were conducted over two years in southern California, U.S.A. Grass control methods were tested in 5 m2 plots using soil and vegetation treatments seeded with a mix of natives. The t...

With growing concerns over the serious ecological problems in pine forests (Pinus massoniana, P. thunbergii) caused by the invasion of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (the pine wood nematode), a particular challenge is to determine the succession and restoration of damaged pine forests in Asia. We used two-way indicator species analysis and canonical correlation analysis for the hierarchical classif...

Objective: To highlight the need and the potential for an integrated understanding of three key soil-based drivers of plant community structure and dynamics – soil fertility, soil heterogeneity, and microbes. Location: European and North American grasslands. Methods: Review and discussion of conceptual models and empirical literature, including examples of observational and manipulative studies...

The depth of sampling is an important factor for evaluating soil stability. The objective of this study was to test soil aggregate particle-size fractions and soil organic carbon (SOC) in water-stable aggregate by vegetation restoration through 0–60 cm soil profile. We collected soil samples in 30 years old Robinia psendoacacia (Rr); Platycladus orientalis (Po); Pinus tabulaeformis (Pt); abando...

Florida Everglades restoration plans are aimed at maintaining and restoring characteristic landscape features such as soil, vegetation, and hydrologic patterns. This study presents the results from an exhaustive spatial sampling of key soil properties in Water Conservation Area 1 (WCA 1), which is part of the northern Everglades. Three soil strata were sampled: floc, upper 0- to 10-cm soil laye...

Since the 1980s, alpine grasslands have been seriously degraded on the Tibetan Plateau. Grazing exclusion by fencing has been widely adopted to restore degraded grasslands. To clarify the effect of grazing exclusion on soil quality, we investigated soil properties and nutrients by comparing free-grazing (FG) and grazing exclusion (GE) grasslands in Tibet. Soil properties – including soil bulk d...

Sod cutting (i.e. top soil removal) is a restoration management option for enhancing seedling establishment and for lowering the nutrient concentration in eutrophicated soils of nutrient-poor species-rich grasslands. Removal of the upper soil changes not only abiotic soil properties but may also affect the resident soil community. We investigated the effects of sod cutting on the establishment ...