<p>Since wetlands provide many important ecosystem services, there is much interest in protecting existing wetlands and restoring degraded wetlands. Yet, degraded wetlands and restoration sites are often vulnerable to plant invasions that can hinder restoration success. Invasive plants typically reduce biodiversity and alter important ecosystem functions and services. This dissertation examines the ecological impact and management of invasive plant species during wetland restoration with a focus on three important drivers of plant community change in wetland ecosystems: disturbance, plant strategies, and environmental filters.</p><p>The investigations included in this research were conducted in a tropical dry wetland (Palo Verde Marsh, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica) and a temperate piedmont riparian forest (Sandy Creek, Duke Forest Stream and Wetland Assessment and Management Park, Durham, North Carolina). In these experiments, the primary species of interest are <italic>Typha domingensis</italic> Pers. (cattail; Typhaceae), <italic>Ligustrum sinense</italic> Lour. (Chinese privet; Oleaceae), <italic>Arundinaria gigantea</italic> (Walter) Muhl. (giant cane; Poaceae), and <italic>Microstegium vimineum</italic> (Trin.) A. Camus (Japanese stiltgrass; Poaceae).</p><p>The expansion of <italic>Typha</italic> into wetlands historically not dominated by cattail typically occurs in response to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Management approaches that reduce <italic>Typha</italic> dominance, increase diversity, and restore or maintain wetland ecosystem services are of interest worldwide. The objective of the first phase of the research was to investigate a unique <italic>Typha</italic> removal method that is used in one of the most dynamic and ecologically important wetlands in Central America (Palo Verde Marsh, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica; a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance). Palo Verde Marsh is a tropical dry wetland with distinct and extreme wet and dry seasons; it is flooded during the wet season and has no standing water for much of the dry season. Palo Verde Marsh has historically provided important habitat for very large populations of migratory birds. However, a cattail (<italic>T. domingensis</italic>) expansion in the 1980s greatly altered the plant community and reduced avian habitat. Since then, <italic>Typha</italic> has been managed using fangueo (a Spanish word, pronounced as "fahn-gay-yo" in English). During fangueo, <italic>Typha</italic> is crushed and locally removed by a tractor with metal paddle wheels. I applied a <italic>Typha</italic> removal treatment at three levels (control, fangueo, and fangueo with fencing to exclude cattle grazing) at Palo Verde Marsh. Fangueo was applied at the beginning of the dry season resulting in a large reduction in <italic>Typha</italic> dominance (decreased aboveground biomass, ramet density, ramet height), an increase in open areas with no vegetation, and a 98 and 5-fold increase in avian density and richness, respectively. Importantly, fangueo had no apparent long-term impact on any of the soil properties measured (including bulk density). Interestingly, low soil and foliar N:P values indicate that Palo Verde Marsh and other wetlands in the region may be nitrogen limited. The fangueo process is an effective method for restricting <italic>Typha</italic> expansion and increasing plant and avian diversity. I present a model that illustrates the impact of <italic>Typha</italic> management and seasonal flooding on the plant and avian community. The technique might be adopted or modified for the restoration and management of <italic>Typha</italic> and other invasive emergent plants in other wetlands.</p><p>The second objective of this research was to better quantify the impact of the distinct and extreme anaerobic/aerobic annual cycle on the plant community in Palo Verde Marsh. Since the impact of seasonal flooding on the plant community in seasonal wetlands is often most evident after disturbance, I created gaps in the wetland vegetation via the mechanical removal of emergent vegetation and then measured plant community change using surveys of the wet and dry season standing vegetation, the seed bank, and <italic>in situ</italic> seedling recruitment. As expected, seasonal flooding acted as an environmental filter and resulted in distinct dry and wet season assemblages. The dominant plant life forms present after vegetation removal differed between seasons with emergents dominating during the dry season and floating-rooted, free-floating, and submerged species more dominant during the wet season. I identified common species that are characteristic of both seasonal assemblages and used indicator species analyses to identify species that are only likely to be found during the wet season. I also characterized the seed bank at this site; like most seasonal wetlands, plant species' resilience in this wetland were dependent upon a large and diverse seed bank which allowed many species to revegetate after disturbance and the extreme wet/dry conditions which acted like environmental filters.</p><p>In addition to the experiments conducted in Palo Verde Marsh, this dissertation also presents the results from an experiment in a temperate riparian restoration site in the North Carolina Piedmont (Sandy Creek, Duke Forest Stream and Wetland Assessment and Management Park, Durham, NC). Since riparian restoration efforts in the southeastern U.S. are often hindered by invasive non-native plants, there is much interest in approaches that can be used to reduce the impact of invasive non-native plant populations at the local level (e.g., a restoration site). In addition to the impact of non-native species-specific removal efforts, there is also much interest in the identification and assessment of native competitive-dominant plant species that can be used during riparian restoration to support important ecosystem functions and reduce non-native invasibility. <italic>Ligustrum sinense</italic> (Chinese privet) is a very common invasive non-native shrub in the region. <italic>Arundinaria gigantea</italic> (giant cane) is a native bamboo species that used to be very abundant in riparian and wetland ecosystems in the region. The objectives of this phase of the research were to: (1) measure the plant community response to removal of mature <italic>L. sinense</italic> individuals; and (2) quantify planted <italic>A. gigantea</italic> clonal expansion in the presence of other plants, particularly common non-native invasive species. Due to its potential for rapid growth and expansion, it was hypothesized that <italic>A. gigantea</italic> would be able to compete with common non-native species and reduce non-native invasibility. In a three-year split-plot experimental design, I applied a Privet-Presence treatment at two levels (Privet Present, Privet Removed) and a Cane-Planting treatment also at two levels (Cane, No Cane). The privet removal treatment resulted in 100% mortality of mature privet individuals. After privet removal, <italic>L. sinense</italic> seedlings recruited into these plots but growth has been very slow and these <italic>L. sinense</italic> individuals are not yet dominant. The privet canopy allows minimal understory plant recruitment and growth and privet removal resulted in an increase in species richness and diversity in the first year. However, in these Privet-Removed plots, a non-native invasive annual grass (<italic>Microstegium vimineum</italic>) invaded, became the most dominant species, and reduced species richness and diversity. In Privet-Removed plots, <italic>A. gigantea</italic> clonal expansion (i.e., ramet density, genet area, ramet diameter, and ramet height) was small in the first year but increased in the second and third years. Importantly, in Privet-Removed plots where <italic>A. gigantea</italic> was planted, <italic>M. vimineum</italic> cover was lower and species richness and diversity were greater; planting <italic>A. gigantea</italic> appears to have facilitated the establishment of other species and, in the process, increased diversity.</p><p>Our results emphasize several general conclusions that are applicable to other restoration efforts in other ecosystems with other plant species. First, during ecological restoration, invasive non-native plant removal alone will typically not restore native plant communities. Non-native invasive plant populations are typically very resilient to removal. Hence, long-term reductions in non-native invasibility will often require additional management efforts. For example, in the tropics my research showed the effectiveness of Fangueo for reducing <italic>Typha</italic> monocultures and increasing native plant and bird diversity. Another approach for improving ecosystems functions and reducing non-native invasibility after invasive plant removal is to carefully select and plant native species with competitive-dominant traits that will be able to compete with invading non-native species and resist invasion. Although this seemingly simple approach is often used by restoration practitioners, the results are rarely monitored and surprisingly few studies are designed to explicitly identify and investigate the performance of these important native competitive-dominant species.</p> / Dissertation

Em muitos estudos ecológicos a distribuição dos organismos vivos era considerada aleatória, uniforme ou orientada ao longo de um simples gradiente. Ao contrário disso, sabe-se que eles podem se apresentar agregados em manchas, em forma de gradientes ou em outros tipos de estruturas espaciais. Dessa forma, a descrição e incorporação da estrutura espacial para a compreensão dos fenômenos ecológicos tem se tornado cada vez mais necessária. Neste trabalho, foram discutidos aspectos relacionados à amostragem e à modelagem da estrutura de continuidade espacial, por meio da geoestatística baseada em modelo, em quatro formações florestais do Estado de São Paulo. Nas quatro formações florestais foram instaladas parcelas permanentes de 320 × 320 m e todos os indivíduos arbóreos no interior das parcelas com diâmetro maior ou igual a 5 cm foram mapeados, georreferenciados, medidos e identificados. Os modelos geoestatísticos ajustados mostraram que a percepção da estrutura de dependência espacial foi influenciada pelo tamanho e pela forma da unidade amostral. As parcelas quadradas de 20×20 m foram as que melhor descreveram a estrutura de continuidade espacial e as parcelas retangulares captaram a variabilidade da floresta. As quatro formações florestais avaliadas apresentaram estruturas espacias distintas, sendo que a Savana e Ombrófila apresentam estruturas espaciais mais pronunciadas do que as formações Estacional e Restinga. Por fim, ao comparar as estimativas geradas pela abordagem baseada em delineamento (teoria da amostragem clássica) e a abordagem baseada em modelo (geoestatística) por estudos de simulação, verificou-se que mesmo com dependência espacial os estimadores clássicos fornecem estimativas e intervalos de confiança igualmente válidos. / In many ecological studies the distribution of living organisms was considered random, uniform or oriented along a single gradient. Unlike this, it is known that they can present aggregated in patches, in the form of gradients or other types of spatial structures. Thus, the description and the incorporation of spatial structure for understanding of ecological phenomena is becoming increasingly necessary. In this work were discussed aspects related to sampling and modeling the structure of spatial continuity through model-based geostatistics on four forest formations of Sao Paulo State. In the four forest formations were installed permanent plots of 320 × 320 m. All individual trees within the plots with a diameter greater than or equal to 5 cm were mapped, georeferenced, measured and identified. The adjusted geostatistical models showed that the perception of spatial structure of dependence was influenced by the size and shape of sampling unit. The structure of spatial continuity was best described by square plots of 20 × 20 m. The rectangular plots capture the variability of the forest. The four forest formations evaluated showed distinct spatial structures. The Savanna and Dense Rain formations have spatial structures more pronounced than the Seasonal Semideciduos and Restinga formations. Finally, to compare the estimates generated by the design-based approach (classical sampling theory) and model-based approach (geostatistics) for simulation studies, was found that even with the spatial dependence, the classical estimators provide estimates and confidence intervals equally valid.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-25T12:19:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ellen Cristina Dantas de Carvalho.pdf: 2068310 bytes, checksum: dec6d3063dadf271da6652c0b9820a76 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-01-20 / The Caatinga is the third biome most environmentally degraded, even as a semi-arid ecoregion unique in the world and of great biological importance to the Northeast. The savanna vegetation has a great variety of landscapes due to their wide spatial distribution. Studies on the succession dynamics of vegetation are important because they provide subsidies to the understanding of the complex distribution and relationship of living organisms in the environment. In order to broaden knowledge phytoecological Caatinga, this study was to analyze structural variation and diversity in relation to altitudinal gradients and in the application of multivariate statistical methods to characterize the stages of plant community development and composition of ecological groups . The study was conducted in Sierra Ignatius Pereira a dry forest sites belonging to Microregion Cariri eastern Paraíba. We plotted 30 plots of 50 x 4 m, systematically distributed in three altitude gradients: Gradient I (base), Gradient II (middle portion) and Gradient III (the top of the mountain), and inventoried all the species with the stem diameter ground level &#8805; 3 cm and height &#8805; 1m. The characterization of the structure of trees and shrubs was done from the calculation of the phytosociological parameters of frequency, density, dominance, importance value, margin. We also calculated the diversity indices Shannon - Wiener (H ') and evenness Jaccard (J). Analysis of community development and training of environmental groups was based on structural measures of sample and species by multivariate analysis of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Ascendant Hierarchical Classification and Cluster Analysis. The formation of environmental groups through multivariate statistical techniques have been faced with a classification of ecological groups based on light requirements for the development of species. The floristic composition cataloged in Sierra Ignatius Pereira had 2263 individuals in 44 species, 37 genera and 19 families, there was also an undetermined species. The families Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Anacardiaceae and Cactaceae were most significant in numbers of individuals. The diversity index of Shannon-Wiener (H ') was 2.47 for the total area of the mountain. The total density found in this study was 3771 individuals. ha-1. The species with highest importance values (VI's) were Croton blanchetianus, Opuntia palmadora Bauhinia cheilantha Sapium glandulatum, Manihot glaziovii and M. urundeuva. The altitudinal gradients I, II and III showed subtle differences on the floristic composition and phytosociological parameters analyzed, although it was possible to distinguish the formation of two different gradients and Gradient I Junction Gradients' II and III. As the parameters analyzed for the development of the community were formed two groups associated with two phases: Phase transition and medium and early development. As for environmental groups, the cluster analysis provided the formation of five distinct groups. The division of environmental groups by multivariate analysis differed from the classification proposed in relation to light both in the number of groups formed as the species that compose them. The results of this study provided an important contribution to understanding the behavior and distributes the savanna vegetation along gradients of altitude environment formed by the mountains and on the degree of community development, however, about the formation of ecological groups in relation the structural parameters of the species, showed the need for more complex studies, involving a larger number of variables, which may further elucidate the patterns and ecological processes involved in ecological succession from savanna. / A Caatinga consiste no terceiro bioma brasileiro mais degradado ambientalmente, mesmo sendo uma ecorregião semi-árida única no mundo e de grande importância biológica para o Nordeste. A vegetação de caatinga apresenta grande variedade de paisagens devido sua ampla distribuição espacial. Estudos sobre a dinâmica sucessional da vegetação são importantes, pois proporcionam subsídios ao entendimento da complexa distribuição e relação dos organismos vivos no ambiente. No intuito de ampliar o conhecimento fitoecológico da Caatinga, este trabalho teve por objetivo analisar as variações estruturais e de diversidade em relação aos gradientes altitudinais, além da aplicação de Métodos Estatísticos Multivariados na caracterização das fases de desenvolvimento da comunidade vegetal e na composição dos grupos ecológicos. O estudo foi desenvolvido na Serra Inácio Pereira uma área de Caatinga pertencente à Microrregião do Cariri Oriental da Paraíba. Foram plotadas 30 parcelas de 50 x 4 m, distribuídas sistematicamente, em três gradientes de altitude: Gradiente I (base), Gradiente II (porção mediana) e Gradiente III (topo da serra), sendo inventariadas todas as espécies com o diâmetro do caule ao nível do solo &#8805; 3cm e altura &#8805; 1m. A caracterização da estrutura arbóreo-arbustiva foi realizada a partir do cálculo dos parâmetros fitossociológicos de freqüência, densidade, dominância, valor de importância, valor de cobertura. Foram calculados também os Índices de diversidade de Shannon - Wiener (H ) e de equabilidade de Jaccard (J). A análise de desenvolvimento da comunidade e formação de grupos ecológicos foi realizada com base nas medidas estruturais das unidades amostrais e das espécies, através de técnicas multivariadas de Análise de Componentes Principais (ACP) e Classificação Hierárquica Ascendente e Análise de Agrupamentos. A formação de grupos ecológicos por meio de técnicas de estatística multivariada ainda foi confrontada com uma classificação de grupos ecológicos com base em exigências luminosas ao desenvolvimento das espécies. A composição florística catalogada na Serra Inácio Pereira apresentou 2263 indivíduos distribuídos em 44 espécies, 37 gêneros e 19 famílias, ocorrendo ainda uma espécie indeterminada. As famílias Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Anacardiaceae e Cactaceae foram as mais expressivas em números de indivíduos. O Índice de diversidade de Shannon-Wiener (H ) foi de 2,47 para a área total da serra. A densidade total encontrada neste estudo foi de 3771 indivíduos. ha -1 . As espécies que apresentaram os maiores Valores de Importância (VI s) foram Croton blanchetianus, Opuntia palmadora, Bauhinia cheilantha, Sapium glandulatum, Manihot glaziovii e Myracrodruon urundeuva. Os Gradientes altitudinais I, II e III apresentaram diferenças sutis quanto à composição florística e os parâmetros fitossociológicos analisados, entretanto, foi possível distinguir a formação de dois gradientes distintos o Gradiente I e a junção dos Gradientes II e III. Conforme os parâmetros analisados para o desenvolvimento da comunidade foram formados dois grupos associados a duas fases: Fase de transição ou média e fase inicial do desenvolvimento. Quanto aos grupos ecológicos, a análise de agrupamento proporcionou a formação de cinco grupos distintos. A divisão dos grupos ecológicos por meio de estatística multivariada diferiu da classificação proposta em relação à luminosidade tanto em relação ao número de grupos formados quanto às espécies que os compõem. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo proporcionaram uma contribuição importante ao entendimento de como se comporta e distribui a vegetação de caatinga ao longo dos gradientes de altitude formados pelo ambiente serrano e sobre o grau de desenvolvimento da comunidade, entretanto, quanto à formação de grupos ecológicos em relação aos parâmetros estruturais das espécies, evidenciou a necessidade de estudos mais complexos, que comportem um maior número de variáveis, as quais poderão elucidar melhor os padrões e processos ecológicos envolvidos na sucessão ecológica da caatinga.

Abstract Deciduous shrubs form the tallest type of vegetation in arctic-alpine areas and are important for ecosystem function. In the southern part of the Eurasian tundra zone, willows (Salix spp.) are the most common species in the shrub layer. In the alpine areas of Northern Fennoscandia, willow shrubs are characteristic to areas between tree line and treeless tundra heaths. Vertical structure and composition of willow-characterized tundra vegetation is affected by a variety of ecological factors including climate and herbivory. In turn, the abundance of the willow canopy affects understory species in several ways that still remain inadequately understood. In this PhD work I describe compositional differentiation of willow-characterized vegetation by using a large data set spanning from north-western Fennoscandia to the Yamal Peninsula in north-western Siberia. I studied environmental factors affecting willow-characterized vegetation and willow growth by using correlative analyses. The factors under investigation were latitude, distance from the sea, depth of thaw, position in the slope, industrial disturbance and reindeer grazing. In addition, I examined the relationships between the shrub biomass estimate and composition and species richness of understory vegetation. The effects of reindeer grazing on vegetation in an alpine forest-tundra ecotone were studied experimentally using reindeer-proof exclosures. I found that willow-characterized vegetation is floristically variable and comprises at least eight vegetation types. The most abundant willow thickets typically have a forb-rich understory. The growth of willow increased along with increasing summer temperatures. However the height of willow was more determined by distance from the sea, thaw depth and slope position. Reindeer grazing decreased the abundance of willow and changed the composition of understory vegetation. In addition, industrial activities were detected to have destructed shrub vegetation and turned it into graminoid-dominated vegetation. Shrub canopies facilitated forbs but decreased the cover of all the other groups including dwarf shrubs, bryophytes and lichens. The species richness of vegetation decreased along with increasing shrub abundance. My study shows that arctic-alpine willow vegetation is more diverse than previously thought. There is a predictable relationship between summer temperatures and willow growth. However, the results also show that there are many factors, both physical and anthropogenic, that are likely to complicate this pattern. Most important of these counteracting effects are industrial activities and reindeer grazing. In the areas where shrubs grow in abundance, the species richness of understory vegetation is likely to decrease and forbs are likely to replace other tundra species.

Les mesures de végétalisation ou de restauration écologique nécessitent de comprendre les mécanismes qui sous-tendent les changements de composition et de structure de la végétation au cours de la succession écologique. Des perturbations, d’intensité et fréquence variables, naturelles ou causées par l’Homme, agissent souvent en interaction sur la dynamique temporelle de la végétation. Cependant, l’influence d’une perturbation récurrente combinée aux changements écologiques au cours de la succession est restée peu étudiée jusqu’à présent.Les communautés végétales de talus routiers représentent un modèle pertinent pour étudier cette problématique. L’historique d’aménagement et de gestion des talus est particulièrement bien renseigné ; on a donc une connaissance précise de l’âge des communautés et de leur régime de perturbation par la fauche. Les talus routiers fournissent ainsi un plan quasi-expérimental in situ permettant l’étude des processus qui affectent l’assemblage des communautés au cours de la succession sous l’influence d’une perturbation récurrente.L’objectif principal de cette étude est de caractériser la dynamique successionnelle initiée par la mise en place d’un talus routier en région méditerranéenne et de déterminer les processus écologiques et les facteurs environnementaux influençant cette dynamique. On s’intéresse en particulier à l’influence de la fauche récurrente sur cette dynamique.Pour cela, nous avons étudié la composition floristique et la diversité des traits fonctionnels (traits foliaires et de phénologie de floraison principalement) de la végétation de talus routiers de l’Hérault (France). Chaque talus inclut une partie fauchée et une partie non fauchée, l’ensemble formant une chronoséquence sur près de 70 ans.L’analyse des variations taxonomiques entre les communautés végétales de talus routiers montre un large remplacement des espèces au cours de la succession. Ce turnover floristique est associé à des changements fonctionnels au sein des communautés. Ces derniers sont structurés par des filtres environnementaux qui influent (1) sur la synchronie de floraison entre espèces au sein des communautés au cours du temps et (2) sur la diversité de combinaisons de traits fonctionnels entre communautés d’âge similaire. Ces changements de filtres environnementaux au cours du temps semblent liés à des changements pédologiques et à l’augmentation de l’hétérogénéité spatiale des conditions de lumière et de température (avec la fermeture progressive de canopée). La fauche altère les trajectoires floristiques et fonctionnelles, notamment en provoquant un ralentissement du changement de stratégie d’utilisation des ressources au cours de la succession par rapport à la trajectoire naturelle, sans fauche. De plus, cette perturbation récurrente induit une augmentation de la diversité taxonomique et fonctionnelle au sein des communautés alors qu’elle la réduit entre communautés d’âge similaire. Finalement, la fauche agit comme un filtre environnemental supplémentaire sur l’assemblage des communautés au cours de la succession et induit une homogénéisation de la végétation entre communautés d’âge similaire.Les conclusions de cette étude contribuent à la connaissance écologique fondamentale. En termes d’implications pour la gestion des communautés végétales de talus routiers, nos conclusions suggèrent, entre autres, que l’association de végétation fauchée et non fauchée au sein des mêmes sites pourrait servir d’habitat pour une plus grande diversité de faune associée. Cette association permettrait de plus d’avoir un rendu paysager agréable aux usagers de la route, tout en garantissant une bonne visibilité pour la sécurité routière. / The success of revegetation or ecological restauration highly depends on our knowledge of mechanisms underlying changes in composition and structure of the vegetation along the ecological succession. Natural or human-induced disturbances of varying intensity and frequency often occur simultaneously to influence vegetation temporal dynamics. However, the influence of a recurrent disturbance combined with ecological changes along plant succession remains poorly documented.Plant communities growing on road slopes are particularly appropriate to study this issue. Construction work and management history are well documented, so that the age of the vegetation and its disturbance regime by mowing can be precisely informed. Thus, road slopes plant communities represent an in situ quasi-experimental framework particularly adapted to study processes affecting community assembly along the ecological succession under the influence of a recurrent disturbance.The principal objective of this study is to characterise the successional dynamic initiated after road slope construction in the Mediterranean area, and to identify the ecological processes and environmental factors influencing this dynamic. We particularly focused on the influence of recurrent mowing on this dynamic.We studied the floristic composition and the diversity of functional traits (mainly leaf traits and flowering phenology traits) in a 70-year long chronosequence of French Mediterranean (Hérault, France) road slopes, each including both mown and unmown vegetation.The analysis of taxonomical variations between road slopes plant communities reveals a large species turnover along the ecological succession. This floristic turnover relates with functional changes within communities. These functional changes are structured by environmental filters influencing flowering synchrony within communities on one hand, and the diversity of a combination of functional traits between communities of similar age on the other hand. These environmental filters changing along the succession relate with changing soil parameters and increasing spatial heterogeneity of light and temperature conditions with canopy closure.Mowing alters floristic and functional trajectories along the succession, notably through the decrease of speed in resource-use strategy changes along the succession in mown communities compared to unmown communities. In addition, this recurrent disturbance increases taxonomic and functional diversity within communities, while it decreases taxonomic and functional turnover between communities of the same age. Finally, mowing acts as an additional environmental filter on community assembly along the succession and homogenises vegetation between communities of the same age.The conclusions of this study provide basic knowledge in ecology. It also has implications for the management of road slopes plant communities in the perspective of their revegetation after construction work. Our conclusions suggest, amongst others, that combining mown and unmown vegetation could provide habitats for a higher diversity of associated fauna. In addition, it would allow vegetation to be pleasant to road users, while still ensuring a good visibility for road safety.

Les besoins en terre végétale pour l’aménagement d’espaces verts urbains induisent un prélèvement de sols agricoles ou naturels. D’autre part, des volumes considérables d’horizons profonds excavés lors de la construction de bâtiments sont mis en décharge en périphérie des villes, avec un impact sur l’environnement. Le recyclage de ces déchets inertes pour la construction de sols des espaces verts apparaît comme une solution prometteuse. Il est toutefois nécessaire de s’assurer que ces Technosols construits peuvent accueillir une diversité végétale et animale pour délivrer des services écosystémiques, comme propose de le faire ce travail de thèse. La composition des mélanges de matériaux (horizons profonds, compost de déchets verts, béton concassé) a été manipulée dans une expérimentation de 4000 m² en collaboration avec l’entreprise ECT et le CD 93. Un suivi de quatre ans a montré que le compost utilisé était responsable de la mort de certains arbres, mais qu’associé au béton, il augmentait fortement leur vitesse de croissance et de colonisation par la macrofaune. En usage prairial, l’ajout de compost a augmenté la production de biomasse et modifié l’assemblage de la communauté végétale, en favorisant les espèces compétitives, mais pas de la macrofaune. Dans une expérience en mésocosmes visant à étudier le lien entre diversité végétale et productivité, une complémentarité entre espèces a été observée pour une des trois communautés, à un niveau de fertilité intermédiaire. Il est donc possible d’améliorer la productivité primaire de nouveaux écosystèmes en manipulant la composition des mélanges de matériaux tout en évitant la dominance de certaines espèces, afin de conserver des communautés diversifiées / Topsoil requirements for the development of urban green spaces induce a harvest of agricultural or natural soils. On the other hand, huge volumes of deep horizons excavated during the construction of buildings are dumped on the outskirts of cities, with an impact on the environment. The recycling of these inert wastes for the construction of soils for green spaces appears as a promising solution. However, it is necessary to ensure that these constructed Technosols are suitable for plant and animal diversity, and can deliver ecosystem services, as proposed by this thesis. The composition of the material mixes (deep horizons, urban green waste compost, crushed concrete) was manipulated in a 4000 m² experiment in collaboration with the company ECT and CD 93. A four-year monitoring showed that the compost used was responsible for the death of some trees, but associated with concrete, it greatly increased their growth rate and macrofaunal colonization. In the meadow land use, the addition of compost increased biomass production and altered the assemblage of the plant community, favoring competitive species, but no effect on macrofauna assemblage was observed. In a mesocosm experiment aiming at studying the link between plant diversity and productivity, complementarity between species was observed for one of the three communities, at an intermediate level of fertility. It is therefore possible to improve the primary productivity of new ecosystems by manipulating the composition of the mixtures of materials while avoiding the dominance of certain species, in order to preserve diversified communities

Within the last two decades substantial progress has been made in understanding seed bank dynamics and the contribution of the soil seed bank to a post-disturbance plant community. There has been relatively little progress, however, in understanding perennial bud bank dynamics and the contribution of the soil bud bank to secondary succession. This lack of information is due primarily to the inability to reliably identify roots, rhizomes, and lignotubers that lie dormant beneath the soil surface. This scientific investigation, therefore, addressed the issue of identification of belowground woody structures. The first objective was to develop a methodology that utilizes molecular tools to reliably identify woody plant species from subsoil tissue samples. The second objective was to create a key in which molecular markers serve as criteria for identification and differentiation of selected tree and shrub species common to the mountains of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. Application of restricted fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis on polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified rbcL gene products proved to be a reliable method to identify and differentiate 15 plants to the genus level. Two restriction enzymes, DPN II and Hha I, cut (or do not cut) the PCR-rbcL product into one to six fragments. Fragment number and length are used to develop an identification key. Plants not analyzed in this key may share the same banding patterns , resulting in a false-positive identification of unknowns. Future research needs and management implications are discussed.

No description available.

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