TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon-based pelleting, soil ripping and herbicide application can be used to overcome plant recruitment barriers in Grey Stinkwood (Jacksonia furcellata)
AU - Brown, Vanessa S.
AU - Erickson, Todd
AU - Hobbs, Richard
AU - Mastrantonis, Stanley
AU - Ritchie, Alison
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council's Linkage programme (project no. LP 170100075) and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science's Global Innovation Linkages grant programme (GIL53873). VB thanks the Australian Wildlife Society for a University research grant. VB thanks Hanson Heidelberg Cement Group, in particular B. Hardy, Z. Keller and V. Newton who gave valuable knowledge regarding the sites and helped prepare these sites by providing the equipment and personnel to scalp and rip the blocks. Thanks to B. Berto, R. Borrett, V. Gomes, O. Hein, J. Kestel, T. Munro and G. Obonye who volunteered during the project to install the field trial or monitored emergence and survival. The authors acknowledge the Whadjuk People of the Noongar Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this research was completed and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them, their culture and to their elders past and present. Finally, the Authors acknowledge the Reviewers for their constructive feedback to improve the manuscript. Open access publishing facilitated by The University of Western Australia, as part of the Wiley ‐ The University of Western Australia agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Ecological Management & Restoration published by Ecological Society of Australia and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Seed-based restoration efforts frequently experience limited success due to competition from invasive plant species and poor soil conditions. We aimed to alleviate these plant recruitment barriers through a combination of carbon-based seed enhancement technologies and commonly applied restoration management practices. Compared to non-pelleted (control) seeds, we tested seven seed enhancement technologies on Grey Stinkwood (Jacksonia furcellata), a perennial shrub common within the Banksia Woodlands of Western Australia, which included extruded pellets, coating and coins (a novel extrusion method), incorporated with activated carbon or biochar. We tested five management practices including combinations of herbicide and soil ripping at two locations (post-sand mine and Post-pine plantation). At the Post-pine site, coins incorporating biochar had the highest overall mean emergence (53%), and at the Post-mine site, extruded pellets containing activated carbon had the highest mean emergence (58%). In comparison, emergence was significantly lower from the non-pelleted seeds (44% and 45% respectively). Survival at the Post-mine site was also higher from biochar coins (31%) compared to the non-pelleted seeds (22%), and highest in plots with herbicide application followed by soil ripping (36%), compared to the control, in which no management practice was applied (16%). At the Post-pine site, survival was poor (<10%), and seed treatment and management practice did not significantly affect seedling survival. Using carbon-based seed treatments and management practices, such as herbicide application followed by soil ripping, may help to overcome seedling emergence bottlenecks in direct seeding programmes. However, further examination into seedling survival is required, particularly within highly degraded settings, before seed enhancement technologies are used in large-scale seeding programmes.
AB - Seed-based restoration efforts frequently experience limited success due to competition from invasive plant species and poor soil conditions. We aimed to alleviate these plant recruitment barriers through a combination of carbon-based seed enhancement technologies and commonly applied restoration management practices. Compared to non-pelleted (control) seeds, we tested seven seed enhancement technologies on Grey Stinkwood (Jacksonia furcellata), a perennial shrub common within the Banksia Woodlands of Western Australia, which included extruded pellets, coating and coins (a novel extrusion method), incorporated with activated carbon or biochar. We tested five management practices including combinations of herbicide and soil ripping at two locations (post-sand mine and Post-pine plantation). At the Post-pine site, coins incorporating biochar had the highest overall mean emergence (53%), and at the Post-mine site, extruded pellets containing activated carbon had the highest mean emergence (58%). In comparison, emergence was significantly lower from the non-pelleted seeds (44% and 45% respectively). Survival at the Post-mine site was also higher from biochar coins (31%) compared to the non-pelleted seeds (22%), and highest in plots with herbicide application followed by soil ripping (36%), compared to the control, in which no management practice was applied (16%). At the Post-pine site, survival was poor (<10%), and seed treatment and management practice did not significantly affect seedling survival. Using carbon-based seed treatments and management practices, such as herbicide application followed by soil ripping, may help to overcome seedling emergence bottlenecks in direct seeding programmes. However, further examination into seedling survival is required, particularly within highly degraded settings, before seed enhancement technologies are used in large-scale seeding programmes.
KW - activated carbon
KW - biochar
KW - coating
KW - extruded pellets
KW - seed-based restoration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168705123&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/emr.12583
DO - 10.1111/emr.12583
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85168705123
SN - 1442-7001
VL - 24
SP - 119
EP - 127
JO - Ecological Management and Restoration
JF - Ecological Management and Restoration
IS - 2-3
ER -