Hastings Natural History Reservation

25 Oct, 05 AM - 26 Oct, 10 AM

Objective: Establish seed addition studies at 4 UCNRS sites that will serve as pilot for the full experiments proposed in the NSF proposal submitted in July 2002. If this proposal is not funded in the first round, the data from this experiment will be used in a follow-up proposal. In addition, this experiment will monitored for an extended period to track long-term population trends in "re-invading" native perennial grasses. The design will address three questions from our invasion experiments at Sedgwick: 1. Is seed limitation important regionally? 2. Is seed limitation important in well-established exotic communities? 3. Are multi-species sowings of natives better able to invade exotic grasslands? Overview: The experiment is a completely randomized block design with two or three blocks (10 3?3 m plots) at each of the four Reserves (three is preferable if seed is available). Seed will be added prior to the first fall rains in a core 0.5?0.5 m plot centered in a 3?3m buffer area. Seed will be added either in monoculture or in mixes as described below. One half of the monocultures will be seeded into clipped and disturbed soil. Treatments should be randomly assigned within the block. "T" posts should be put at corners of block. Each corner should have a metal tag with "UCSB SEABLOOM-REICHMAN" on it. Seeded plots should be delineated with rebar stakes and metal tags with treatment codes. Seed density will be for live seed as determined by germination tests currently underway. Seed should be added and vegetation lightly shaken Note: configuration of the block can be changed to suit the space available as long as the 10 plots are in as close proximity as possible. Site Selection Criteria: 1. Site should be isolated from local populations of native perennial grasses. 2. Site should be dominated by exotic annual species. 3. Site should not have been plowed recently (decades or as long as possible). 4. Site should be non-serpentine soil. 5. Site should be available for long-term monitoring 6. Site should not have heavy grazing recently (e.g., bare soil) 7. Future grazing is OK if we can fence the site.

Visit #685 @Hastings Natural History Reservation

Approved

Under Project # 634 | Research

Pilot Seed Addition Study

research_scientist - University of California, Santa Barbara

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 2 Research Assistant (non-student/faculty/postdoc) Oct 25 - 26, 2002 (2 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Stucco House 2 Oct 25 - 26, 2002