Despite the agronomic benefits of exotic grass plantings for pasture and rangeland forage, exotic grass invasions are capable of having dramatic and widespread impacts on native communities and ecosystems. Exotic Old World bluestem grasses (OWBG; Bothriochloa and Dichanthium spp.) have become increasingly invasive throughout the central and southern U.S. Little is known regarding the impacts of OWBG invasion on native grassland and savannah ecology and how to successfully control OWBG invasions in natural areas. Accordingly, this dissertation research had several objectives: 1) Evaluate the efficacy of herbicide and/or disking to control OWBG; 2) Assess the relative competitive ability of the OWBG, Kleberg bluestem (Dichanthium annulatum); 3) Evaluate herbicide application and native grass seeding to rehabilitate an OWBG invaded coastal prairie; 4) Examine whether ecosystem function differs between areas dominated by OWBG vs. native coastal prairie; and 5) Characterize the germinable soil seed bank of an OWBG invaded coastal prairie. Herbicide treatments of imazapyr, glyphosate, and imazapyr + glyphosate were found to provide effective, albeit temporary, OWBG control (often less than six months). A combination regimen of disking followed by herbicide treatments, regardless of herbicide active ingredient or application rate, controlled OWBG more effectively than herbicide alone or herbicide followed by disking. Herbicide treatments followed by native grass seeding did not markedly rehabilitate coastal prairie invaded by OWBG. OWBG appeared to reinvade from the seed and/or bud bank suggesting the restoration of OWBG invaded grasslands will likely require aggressive and repetitive control methods to completely extirpate OWBG at a given site before native plantings occur. A seed bank survey revealed the density of OWBG germinable seeds increases dramatically with increasing OWBG invasion (i.e., canopy cover) while the native grass seed bank is generally depauperate even when levels of OWBG invasion were low. Dominance of OWBG appears to have altered native coastal prairie ecosystem function; yet the directionality and extent of OWBG effects were strongly soil texture dependent. Here, ecosystem function parameters between areas dominated by OWBG compared to native prairie differed most often on sandy loam vs. clay soil. Moreover, DeWit replacement series experiments revealed the relative competitive ability of Dichanthium annulatum was significantly greater than the native grass, little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). OWBG will likely persist throughout the central and southern Great Plains, USA, for years to come and intensive management efforts will be necessary to keep OWBG invasions under control in natural areas of high conservation value.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:31:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3517.pdf: 3051757 bytes, checksum: 720dba31dd22b8276cbb87ef1cfee786 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-04 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / In heterogeneous communities both in time and space, the most important strategies and processes are successfully evaluated by long-term studies. For studies of the effects of disturbance in the seed bank function and formation, are necessary many samplings, sites and measures of biotic and abiotic variables. In this study, we aimed identify fire effects on the seed bank structure in different areas of cerrado sensu stricto in terms of structure and history of disturbance, in the campus of the Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, São Carlos. One of these areas was burnt in 2006 , while the other burnt in 2009. Both in dry and wet season, we sampled the seed bank, since fire occurrence until the dry season of 2010. In 2007 and 2008 we collected soil samples only from first 4 cm depth, while in 2009 and 2010 we included the litter layer and from 5-8 cm depth. We estimated the number of viable seeds by the germination method, and used univariated and multivariated analysis of variance in PERMANOVA to perform the analysis of main effects of fire, year, season and depth, and all interactions. The seed bank was more abundant and diverse in the more preserved sites, and the most frequent species were Miconia albicans, Tibouchina stenocarpa e Panicum campestre. Otherwise, the seed bank of invaded sites was dominated by Melinis minutiflora and Urochloa decumbens. Fire effects decreased seed abundance in the soil. The abundance of U. decumbens e P. campestre increased soon after the fire in burnt sites, while M. albicans responses were slow but continuous. Although the seed banks of M. albicans e P. campestre were persistent through the soil profile, the soil seed bank of all sampled sites are small and poor to promote natural regeneration of the vegetation. As the impacts on this fragment, probably non-natural fires, are expected to continue, exotic grasses will expand toward more preserved. In this case, this fragment of cerrado sensu stricto would be converted in grasslands dominated by the exotic M. minutiflora and U. decumbens. / Em comunidades altamente heterogêneas no tempo e espaço, tais como as de cerrado, é difícil identificar os processos e estratégias predominantes, assim como o efeito de eventuais perturbações. Tendo em vista a função de estruturação do fogo no cerrado, compreender o efeito dos incêndios no banco de sementes pode fornecer informações sobre o processo de regeneração. Nesse trabalho, buscamos identificar a influência do fogo sobre a estrutura do banco de sementes em duas áreas de cerrado sensu stricto com estrutura e histórico de perturbação distintos, localizadas no campus de São Carlos da Universidade Federal de São Carlos. A primeira área foi queimada em 2006, enquanto a segunda foi queimada em 2009. Amostramos, também, o banco de sementes em áreas adjacentes não queimadas. As amostragens foram conduzidas na estação seca e chuvosa desde a estação chuvosa de 2007 até a estação seca de 2010, apenas na camada superficial de solo (0-4 cm) em 2007 e 2008; em 2009 e 2010, acrescentamos uma camada mais profunda (5-8 cm) e a serapilheira. Estimamos o número de sementes viáveis no solo pelo método da germinação, e analisamos o efeito do fogo, ano de amostragem, estação e profundidade por meio de Analise de Variância Univariada e Multivariada no programa PERMANOVA. As áreas mais preservadas apresentaram um banco de sementes muito mais abundante e diverso, com predomínio de Miconia albicans, Tibouchina stenocarpa e Panicum campestre, espécies nativas do cerrado, enquanto nas áreas degradadas o banco de sementes foi dominado por Melinis minutiflora e Urochloa decumbens. O fogo causou uma redução nas densidades de sementes no solo. Espécies como U. decumbens e P. campestre responderam rapidamente a essas alterações com um aumento rápido de abundância, enquanto M. albicans respondeu de forma mais lenta, mas também efetiva. Embora a distribuição vertical no solo tenha mostrado que M. albicans e P. campestre podem formar bancos persistentes, o banco de sementes das áreas amostradas é muito limitado para sustentar o processo de regeneração natural. Considerando as pressões as quais o fragmento tem sido submetido, é provável que ocorra um aumento na freqüência de incêndios, aumentando a possibilidade do avanço das gramíneas exóticas sobre as áreas mais preservadas. Caso esse quadro se mantenha, provavelmente ocorreria uma homogeneização da área, com a conversão do cerrado sensu stricto em áreas dominadas pelas gramíneas exóticas M. minutiflora e U. decumbens..