A atividade de restauração florestal é freqüentemente realizada em áreas degradadas, ocupadas por gramíneas exóticas invasoras, e o controle destas plantas é fator determinante no sucesso da restauração. Esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de testar intervenções para controle da gramínea exótica invasora Urochloa decumbens Stapf. em área de restauração florestal, com plantio de mudas nativas em área total. O delineamento utilizado foi o de blocos com parcelas subdivididas. Os tratamentos aplicados nas parcelas foram: 1. Não inversão de solo (R) e 2. Com inversão de solo por gradagem (G). Os tratamentos aplicados nas subparcelas foram: 1. Aplicação de herbicida na instalação e nas manutenções (H), 2. Plantio de feijão de porco (Canavalia ensiformes DC.) com aplicação de herbicida na instalação e nas manutenções só roçagem (H+FP), 3. Plantio de feijão de guandu (Cajanus cajan L.) com aplicação de herbicida na instalação e nas manutenções só roçagem (H+FG), 4. Plantio de feijão de porco (Canavalia ensiformes DC.) na instalação e nas manutenções só roçagem (FP), 5. Plantio de feijão de guandu (Cajanus cajan L.) na instalação e nas manutenções só roçagem (FG), 6. Roçagem na instalação e nas manutenções (sem aplicação de herbicida e sem plantio de adubos verdes) (s/Hs/AV). O desenvolvimento da gramínea foi avaliado pela altura e porcentagem de cobertura no solo e o desenvolvimento das mudas pela altura, área de copas e mortalidade. As analises estatísticas foram realizadas pelo pacote estatístico SAS. O experimento permitiu concluir que, no período entre plantio e a primeira manutenção (realizada 3 meses após o plantio) as coberturas vivas na interação R(H+FP) e R(H+FG) diminuíram a porcentagem de cobertura no solo de U. decumbens em relação ao tratamento R(s/Hs/AV) e os tratamentos (H+FP) e (H+FG) diminuíram a altura da U. decumbens no primeiro mês em relação ao tratamento (s/Hs/AV). Após a primeira manutenção, apenas o tratamento (H) diminuiu a porcentagem de cobertura no solo de U. decumbens e a altura desta gramínea em relação a todos os demais. Nas variáveis referentes ao desenvolvimento das mudas, apenas a variável área de copas apresentou diferença significativa nas interações entre os tratamentos R(H) e R(s/Hs/AV) 7 meses após o plantio e R(H) em relação a todos os demais 9 meses após o plantio, sendo que o R(H) apresentou maior área de copas. Neste experimento, o uso de adubos verdes em área de restauração florestal não melhorou o desenvolvimento das mudas plantadas. O tratamento que promoveu menor porcentagem de cobertura no solo de U. decumbens, menor altura de Urochloa decumbens Stapf. e mudas com maior área de copas foi o que teve aplicação de herbicida na instalação e nas manutenções (H). / The activity of forest restoration is often performed in areas covered by exotic grasses. In this way, the weed control of these plants is a determining factor in the success of restoration. This project aims to test different interventions for Urochloa decumbens Stapf. control in an area of forest restoration with seedlings planting in total area. The design adopted was split plot treatments divided in blocks, with each plot with different kind of soil tillage systems: 1. tillage (no soil movement) and 2. Harrowing (ground motion); and subplots with: 1. herbicide application in the installation and during maintenance (H); 2. herbicide application and planting of bean (Canavalia ensiformis DC.) in the installation and maintenance on mowing (FP + H); 3. herbicide application and planting beans (Cajanus cajan L.) in the installation and maintenance on mowing (H + FG); 4. planting bean (Canavalia ensiformis DC.) in the installation and maintenance on mowing (FP), 5. planting bean (Cajanus cajan L.) in the installation and maintenance on mowing (FG); and 6. no herbicide application nor planting green manure in the installation and the maintenance on mowing (s / Hs / AV). The grass height and percentage of occupation in of the soil was measured, as well the height, canopy area and mortality of seedlings, all of them analyzed by the SAS statistical package. In the period between planting and first maintenance (3 months), the living roofs in the interaction R (H + FP) and R (H + FG) controlled the percentage of invasive exotic grasses in the soil, and the treatments (H + FP) and ( H + FG) controlled the height of grasses in the first month. After the first maintenance, only the treatment (H) controlled the grasses in percentage of occupancy in the soil and height. Regarding the variables referred to the seedlings, only the canopy area showed a significant difference between treatments (H) and (s / Hs / AV) 7 months after planting and the (H) treatment showed a difference among all others, 9 months after planting,, as well its showed the biggest area. In this experiment the use of green manure in the area of forest restoration did not improve seedling growth. The (H) treatment was the one that promotes the Urochloa decumbens Stapf. control for a longer time and the seedlings with the largest canopy area.

The invasibility, or susceptibility of an ecosystem to biological invasion is influenced by changes in biotic and abiotic resistance often due to shifts in disturbance regime. The magnitude of invasive propagule pressure interacts with an ecosystem's invasibility to determine the extent of a biological invasion. I examined how propagule pressure, forest community structure and disturbance interact to influence the invasibility of temperate Pacific Northwest forests by the newly-invasive grass, Brachypodium sylvaticum. My goal was to identify which of these factors is most instrumental in enabling the shift from establishment to population growth in B. sylvaticum at the edge of its expanding range. Both observational and experimental studies were employed to identify the many ecological components of this problem. Ecological sampling methods were used to identify trends in B. sylvaticum habitat preference and signs of habitat disturbance. In addition, an experimental study was performed to test the effects of soil and vegetation disturbance on B. sylvaticum seedling propagation. I found that while soil disturbance did not have a significant effect on seedling propagation, vegetation disturbance was implicated in B. sylvaticum spread. Higher propagule pressure and coniferous forest type were also strong predictors of increased B. sylvaticum seedling propagation and survival within established sites. My study demonstrates how propagule pressure and plant community dynamics interact to shift the invasibility of Pacific Northwest forests and facilitate the transition from establishment to spread in the invasion of B. sylvaticum.

Invasive species degrade ecosystems by altering natural processes and decreasing the abundance and diversity of native flora. Communities with major fluctuations in resource supply allow invasive species to exploit limiting resources making the community prone to invasion. In the Pacific Northwest, urban forests characterized with limited light and seasonally limited soil moisture are being dominated by nonnative English ivy (Hedera spp). Three observational studies were conducted in the Southern end of Forest Park within the Balch Creek Subwatershed in Portland, Oregon in order to understand 1) how English ivy changes over three growing seasons, 2) how the native understory composition responds to English ivy, 3) if the dominance of English ivy reduces soil moisture to neighboring plants, 4) how English ivy and two co-occurring native herbs (Hydrophyllum tenuipes and Vancouveria hexandra) physiologically respond to seasonal changes in soil moisture. Percent cover of the understory community was collected in both 2010 and 2013 growing seasons in 54 plots in order to understand the change in cover over time. Community response and the relationship with soil moisture was analyzed using percent cover of the understory community and associated environmental variables including soil moisture collected in 128 plots during the 2013 field season. Finally, 15 plots with co-occurring Hedera spp, H. tenuipes and V. hexandra were sampled for stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, and associated environmental variables. Results show ivy cover increases on average 14% between 2010 and 2013 while native understory cover increased on average < 1%. Once ivy forms dense cover over 44% there is a reduction of native richness, diversity and herb cover while also an increase in available soil moisture and deciduous canopy cover. There were disparate impacts to different functional groups and between species. As functional group, the herbaceous community was the most impacted by ivy invasion. The shrubs and fern community had a variable response to ivy invasion. Many of the fern and shrub species least impacted by ivy also had associations with high soil moisture and deciduous canopy cover. Finally, data suggests that ivy does not take advantage of seasonally limiting soil moisture to invade the understory community. This study indicates that English ivy is both efficient at water use and may have the ability to obtain water from distant locations throughout the forest. Once established, ivy has the ability to alter the community composition. Ivy removal and habitat restoration are essential in order to maintain and enhance biodiversity in Forest Park.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Woody plant encroachment, that is, a substantial increase in the abundance of woody plants in a grassland or savanna, occurs in many parts of the world. It often has large effects on plant and animal populations and communities and on ecosystem properties and processes. However, little is known about the dynamics of woody plant encroachment and how these are affected by soils, by topography, and by the spatial pattern of the vegetation. Encroachment in turn can affect the spatial pattern of the vegetation. Using data from historical aerial photographs, I measured changes in woody plant cover and constructed, parameterized and compared a set of dynamic models of woody plant encroachment in central Texas savannas. These models predicted final woody cover from initial woody cover and the initial spatial configuration of woody plants. Then I incorporated soil and topography into these models to determine their effects. Finally, I examined the effects of encroachment on the spatial pattern of the vegetation. Incorporating negative density dependence in our models improved their fit, demonstrating that encroachment is density-dependent. A function that predicted the formation of new woody patches from a density-independent seed supply also improved the models' performance. The improvement in the models that resulted from incorporating the total length of woody-herbaceous edges confirmed that encroachment in this system occurs in part by the outward expansion of woody patches. The spatial pattern of the vegetation changed during woody plant encroachment. Spatial pattern (measured as degree of fragmentation) often had a non-linear relationship with cover. Furthermore, the spatial heterogeneity in fragmentation, that is, plot-to-plot variation in the degree of fragmentation, also changed during encroachment. Topography and soil type had, in general, little effect the dynamics of woody plant encroachment. Therefore, a relatively simple model of woody plant encroachment provided good predictions of woody cover at the end of the time periods. Other systems experiencing woody plant encroachment, forest succession, or invasion by non-native plants could be modeled using the same approach. / text

No description available.

Plants that can self-fertilise should, on average, be more invasive than plants that can not self-fertilise because they can reproduce regardless of the availability of mates and pollinators. Self-fertilisation should have a strong effect on invasiveness because, to become invasive, introduced plants have to pass through bottlenecks of low plant abundance when mates and pollinators are likely to be scarce. Under these conditions, reproduction of plants that can not self-fertilise is often limited by pollen receipt. Selfing may thus contribute to invasiveness by alleviating pollen limitation Allee effects (pollen limitation caused by low abundance) especially as theoretical work indicates that ability to invade and rate of invasion are highly sensitive to fecundity of small and isolated populations and single individuals. Recently, a correlation between ability to self-fertilise and invasiveness has been observed in several invasive floras, consistent with the hypothesis that species that can self-fertilise should be more invasive. However, it has not yet been demonstrated that this relationship arises from reproductive assurance. To establish the causal basis of a correlation between a plant trait and invasiveness, a mechanism linking that trait to invasiveness must be demonstrated. For this it is necessary to show firstly that the trait actually affects performance in the introduced range and secondly that plant performance affects invasiveness. Self-fertilisation is hypothesised to increase invasiveness by enhancing reproductive performance. The first step in testing this hypothesis is therefore to show that being able to self-fertilise increases fecundity, i.e. that it provides reproductive assurance. However, progeny from self-fertilisation often suffer from inbreeding depression – they perform worse than those from cross-fertilisation – so it is also necessary to show that this cost does not outweigh the reproductive assurance benefit of selfing. So far, reproductive assurance has been assessed in only a few invasive plant species. These studies did not assess inbreeding depression and only one investigated reproductive assurance in relation to abundance, finding no relationship. In this thesis I have sought to understand the importance of self-fertilisation for reproduction of invasive plants in the introduced range through case studies. In particular, I assessed whether reproductive assurance from self-fertilization alleviates Allee effects via pollen limitation. To do this I tested whether pollen limitation and reproductive assurance were greater at low plant abundance. Further, I conducted progeny trials to assess inbreeding depression, as this cost of selfing potentially negates reproductive assurance benefits. I also conducted observations and experiments to identify the principle pollinators of my study species as reproductive assurance and its relationship to plant abundance depend on pollinator visitation, The Australian trees Acacia mearnsii and A. dealbata are highly invasive in the study region of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Through controlled pollination experiments I established that A. dealbata was self-compatible and autonomously self-fertilising, while previous studies reported A. mearnsii as self-incompatible. I identified the native honeybee Apis mellifera scutellata as the principal pollinator of A. mearnsii, A. dealbata and a co-occuring related invasive species, Acacia decurrens, in the study region. I conducted pollen supplementation experiments in two of these species, aiming to indirectly assess reproductive assurance from selfing in the self-compatible A. dealbata by comparing pollen limitation between this species and the self-incompatible A. mearnsii. In both species, I conducted pollen supplementation in single isolated trees and trees in continuous populations, to test whether pollen limitation was more severe in isolation. These pollen supplementation experiments were inconclusive with respect to pollen limitation but indicated that if there was pollen limitation in A. mearnsii, it was not related to isolation. Progeny trials in A. dealbata revealed relatively strong inbreeding depression in progeny growth and survival. This suggests that selfed progeny may not reach reproduction, so even if self-fertilisation provides reproductive assurance, it may not contribute to invasion in this species. As floral morphology of Acacia species prohibits the use of emasculation experiments to directly measure reproductive assurance, I conducted further investigations on Lilium formosanum, a large-flowered, autonomously self-pollinating invasive geophyte native to Taiwan. I identified the long tongued hawkmoth Agrius convolvuli as its primary pollinator in its introduced range in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Trials of progeny from self- and crosspollination in the field (to 31 months) and in a controlled shade-house environment (to 26 months) showed no evidence of inbreeding depression in germination, growth or survival. Flowering was assessed in the shade-house as most plants did not flower in the field. Only one of five populations showed inbreeding depression in probability of flowering in the second year of growth but none showed inbreeding depression in the third year. Inbreeding depression was thus generally undetectable in L. formosanum. I tested for reproductive assurance and pollen limitation in L. formosanum by conducting floral emasculations and pollen supplementations in multiple populations across a range of population size and isolation in three different years. These experiments demonstrated that reproductive assurance was substantial and that pollen limitation was low or absent. Contrary to expectations, reproductive assurance was not greater in smaller populations and was greater for more isolated populations in only one of three years. However, that study did not include many very small populations. To assess reproductive assurance at very low abundance, I created arrays of emasculated and intact plants within and around naturally occurring populations at two sites. Isolated plants had higher reproductive assurance than did plants placed inside the continuous population at one site, supporting the hypothesis that selfing provides reproductive assurance against pollen-limitation Allee effects. However, in these studies, generally inadequate pollinator visitation was the main reason that L. formosanum exhibited reproductive assurance through selfing. The substantial reproductive assurance and minimal inbreeding depression displayed by L. formosanum makes a compelling case for the hypothesis that self-pollination promotes invasion. Nevertheless, demographic modelling will be necessary to assess whether increased fecundity through reproductive assurance results in increased rates of population growth and spread, and hence invasion, in this species. To assess whether reproductive assurance accounts for the relationship between ability to self-fertilise and invasiveness in plants generally, the contribution of self-fertilisation to invasiveness will have to be evaluated for a larger sample of invasive and non-invasive introduced species, using the approaches taken in this thesis, followed up by demographic modelling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

The change in total evaporation through alteration of vegetative cover is a major influence on catchment hydrology. The transformation of grassland and scrub habitats to commercial tree plantations, as well as the uncontrolled spread of invasive alien plants (lAPs) to ecologically sensitive systems, riparian zones in particular, are a threat to biodiversity and integrity of natural systems. Furthermore, critical low flow periods are of particular concern to water managers and local communities, as well as the associated impacts of potentially compromised water resources for rural livelihoods. The Working for Water (WfW) programme was implemented in 1995 by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and its main goals are to remove lAPs in order to improve water supply while at the same time providing employment to marginalised communities. In this study, the hydrological response to lAPs in the Upper Blyde River catchment is assessed. This is done by developing a classification structure for lAPs as a land use using detailed mapping available from WfW for use in a hydrological model, and then configuring and running the ACRU hydrological model for the Upper Blyde River catchment in Mpumalanga. In the classification, lAPs are represented as spatially explicit land use units in the ACRU model according to the type of habitat they invade, viz. riparian or non-riparian; as well as by type of plant, i.e. tree or shrub; and their area and density. The results obtained from simulating catchment hydrological responses using the ACRU model indicate that riparian lAPs have a great er impact on streamflow than do landscape invasions alone, specifically during periods of low flow. An increase in streamflow after removing lAPs from riparian and non-riparian habitats is a consistent outcome at both subcatchment and catchment scales. Using a spatially explicit method in order to model the hydrological response of different types of lAPs for different density classes in both riparian and non-riparian habitats is found to be a useful technique in determining the degree to which lAPs influence catchment streamflow. Recommendations for future research include focussing hydrological assessments of lAPs on critical flow periods and their impacts on water quality; investigation into the water use of invasive and indigenous vegetation for more accurate estimates from modelling exercises; and finally, applying the classification system for lAPs with other land use sensitive hydrological models for validation, and their wider application by incorporating methodologies into guidelines for use by WfW at national and provincial level. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2004. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Roger L. Sheley. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 26-30).

This dissertation examines nursery/garden centre compliance with Invasive Alien Plant (IAPs) legislation in eThekwini and uMsunduzi, South Africa. Despite South African governmental programmes, an apparent lack of public awareness regarding IAPs persists. The cost to clear IAPs in South Africa is estimated to be 12 billion Rand over 20 years. Nurseries/garden centres should be able to increase customer awareness of IAPs. However, Government regulation/instruction of nurseries/garden centres seems inadequate. A mixed methods approach involving quantitative and qualitative analyses of questionnaires, observations and interviews was used in this study. There was little evidence that nurseries/garden centres stocked/sold CARA plants. However, they were stocking/selling NEMBA plants in spite of knowing CARA, NEMBA and indigenous alternatives. There is little interaction with relevant government/industry programmes. It is recommended that the Department of Environmental Affairs institute a IAPs Advisory Committee to see to the dissemination and provision of relevant information and training concerning IAPs to the industry.