Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Control of shrub establishment by springtime soil water availability in an annual grassland

Control of shrub establishment by springtime soil water availability in an annual grassland Previous studies have shown that the shrub, Baccharis pilularis spp. consanguinea , invades annual grasslands in the San Francisco Bay region in a sporadic manner. Invasion was shown to be positively correlated with the amount of rainfall received in the spring. Here we show that, although Baccharis seeds are dispersed near the beginning of the winter rainy season, seedling root growth is extremely slow until spring. At this time, cessation of the winter rains and transpiration by the grassland annuals results in drying of the upper soil profile. We conclude that establishment of Baccharis seedlings at our study site usually fails because seedling roots cannot reach depths of permanently moist soil, below the depth of the grass roots, before this soil drought occurs. The continuation of rains into the warmer spring months provides a window of time when favorable temperatures and adequate soil moisture allow shrubs to establish. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Oecologia Springer Journals

Control of shrub establishment by springtime soil water availability in an annual grassland

Oecologia , Volume 81 (1) – Oct 1, 1989

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/control-of-shrub-establishment-by-springtime-soil-water-availability-VtIUXi6rHT

References (18)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 by Springer-Verlag
Subject
Life Sciences; Ecology; Plant Sciences
ISSN
0029-8549
eISSN
1432-1939
DOI
10.1007/BF00377011
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the shrub, Baccharis pilularis spp. consanguinea , invades annual grasslands in the San Francisco Bay region in a sporadic manner. Invasion was shown to be positively correlated with the amount of rainfall received in the spring. Here we show that, although Baccharis seeds are dispersed near the beginning of the winter rainy season, seedling root growth is extremely slow until spring. At this time, cessation of the winter rains and transpiration by the grassland annuals results in drying of the upper soil profile. We conclude that establishment of Baccharis seedlings at our study site usually fails because seedling roots cannot reach depths of permanently moist soil, below the depth of the grass roots, before this soil drought occurs. The continuation of rains into the warmer spring months provides a window of time when favorable temperatures and adequate soil moisture allow shrubs to establish.

Journal

OecologiaSpringer Journals

Published: Oct 1, 1989

There are no references for this article.