Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes
Restoring roadside slopes in semiarid regions of the Mediterranean Basin is often constrained by the difficulties arising when developing restoration projects (absence of nearby natural ecosystems serving as reference sites and slow natural colonization) and by the contradictions found between short-term (reduce soil erosion) and long-term (increase plant diversity) restoration goals. Restoration techniques developed in temperate climates are commonly applied in these regions without taking into account their specific characteristics; as a consequence, they often fail. We evaluated the effectiveness of three treatments widely used by practitioners (hydroseeding, fertilization and irrigation) to foster community composition changes that control soil erosion and increase species diversity (restoration goals) during the restoration of motorway embankments. The study was carried out during an 18-month period in five embankments from semiarid central Spain. The most outstanding result was that responses of the plant community to the treatments evaluated were site-specific. Several fast-growing dominant species, some hydroseeded and some already present in the study sites, were responsible for this idiosyncratic variation between sites. On embankments, where plant cover can easily reach values high enough to prevent erosion, the use of non-native herbs that can potentially dominate the community should be avoided. These fast-growing species, although effective as starters the first years following motorway building, can constrain vegetation dynamics in the long term. Our results indicate that these species should be controlled in the field, and their presence avoided in the commercial seed mixtures when the target is to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem stability and resilience. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.
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Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2010-10
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Subjects: | Soil erosion, Dominant species, Fertilization, Grasslands, Hydroseeding, Irrigation, Plant composition, Roadside slopes, Semiarid, |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342040 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100012818 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007406 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000409 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004837 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77955554453 |
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dig-ica-es-10261-3420402024-05-20T20:41:20Z Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes García-Palacios, Pablo Soliveres, Santiago Maestre, Fernando T. Escudero, Adrián Castillo-Monroy, Andrea P. Valladares, Fernando Fundación Biodiversidad Fundación BBVA Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España) European Commission British Ecological Society Comunidad de Madrid Soil erosion Dominant species Fertilization Grasslands Hydroseeding Irrigation Plant composition Roadside slopes Semiarid Restoring roadside slopes in semiarid regions of the Mediterranean Basin is often constrained by the difficulties arising when developing restoration projects (absence of nearby natural ecosystems serving as reference sites and slow natural colonization) and by the contradictions found between short-term (reduce soil erosion) and long-term (increase plant diversity) restoration goals. Restoration techniques developed in temperate climates are commonly applied in these regions without taking into account their specific characteristics; as a consequence, they often fail. We evaluated the effectiveness of three treatments widely used by practitioners (hydroseeding, fertilization and irrigation) to foster community composition changes that control soil erosion and increase species diversity (restoration goals) during the restoration of motorway embankments. The study was carried out during an 18-month period in five embankments from semiarid central Spain. The most outstanding result was that responses of the plant community to the treatments evaluated were site-specific. Several fast-growing dominant species, some hydroseeded and some already present in the study sites, were responsible for this idiosyncratic variation between sites. On embankments, where plant cover can easily reach values high enough to prevent erosion, the use of non-native herbs that can potentially dominate the community should be avoided. These fast-growing species, although effective as starters the first years following motorway building, can constrain vegetation dynamics in the long term. Our results indicate that these species should be controlled in the field, and their presence avoided in the commercial seed mixtures when the target is to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem stability and resilience. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. PGP and SS were supported by PhD fellowships from Proyecto Expertal, funded by Fundación Biodiversidad and CINTRA. APC was supported by a PhD fellowship from the INTERCAMBIO (BIOCON06/105) project, funded by Fundación BBVA. FTM was supported by a Ramón y Cajal contract from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (co-funded by the European Social Fund), and by the British Ecological Society (ECPG 231/607 and Studentship 231/1975). This research was supported by the EXPERTAL and REMEDINAL (S0505/AMB/0335) projects, funded by Fundación Biodiversidad-Cintra S.A. and the Comunidad de Madrid, respectively. Peer reviewed 2024-01-10T12:05:04Z 2024-01-10T12:05:04Z 2010-10 artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 Ecological Engineering 36(10): 1290-1298 (2010) 0925-8574 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342040 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2010.06.005 1872-6992 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100012818 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007406 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000409 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004837 2-s2.0-77955554453 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77955554453 en #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# S0505/AMB-0335/REMEDINAL Postprint https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2010.06.005 Sí open application/pdf Elsevier |
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Soil erosion Dominant species Fertilization Grasslands Hydroseeding Irrigation Plant composition Roadside slopes Semiarid Soil erosion Dominant species Fertilization Grasslands Hydroseeding Irrigation Plant composition Roadside slopes Semiarid |
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Soil erosion Dominant species Fertilization Grasslands Hydroseeding Irrigation Plant composition Roadside slopes Semiarid Soil erosion Dominant species Fertilization Grasslands Hydroseeding Irrigation Plant composition Roadside slopes Semiarid García-Palacios, Pablo Soliveres, Santiago Maestre, Fernando T. Escudero, Adrián Castillo-Monroy, Andrea P. Valladares, Fernando Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
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Restoring roadside slopes in semiarid regions of the Mediterranean Basin is often constrained by the difficulties arising when developing restoration projects (absence of nearby natural ecosystems serving as reference sites and slow natural colonization) and by the contradictions found between short-term (reduce soil erosion) and long-term (increase plant diversity) restoration goals. Restoration techniques developed in temperate climates are commonly applied in these regions without taking into account their specific characteristics; as a consequence, they often fail. We evaluated the effectiveness of three treatments widely used by practitioners (hydroseeding, fertilization and irrigation) to foster community composition changes that control soil erosion and increase species diversity (restoration goals) during the restoration of motorway embankments. The study was carried out during an 18-month period in five embankments from semiarid central Spain. The most outstanding result was that responses of the plant community to the treatments evaluated were site-specific. Several fast-growing dominant species, some hydroseeded and some already present in the study sites, were responsible for this idiosyncratic variation between sites. On embankments, where plant cover can easily reach values high enough to prevent erosion, the use of non-native herbs that can potentially dominate the community should be avoided. These fast-growing species, although effective as starters the first years following motorway building, can constrain vegetation dynamics in the long term. Our results indicate that these species should be controlled in the field, and their presence avoided in the commercial seed mixtures when the target is to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem stability and resilience. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. |
author2 |
Fundación Biodiversidad |
author_facet |
Fundación Biodiversidad García-Palacios, Pablo Soliveres, Santiago Maestre, Fernando T. Escudero, Adrián Castillo-Monroy, Andrea P. Valladares, Fernando |
format |
artículo |
topic_facet |
Soil erosion Dominant species Fertilization Grasslands Hydroseeding Irrigation Plant composition Roadside slopes Semiarid |
author |
García-Palacios, Pablo Soliveres, Santiago Maestre, Fernando T. Escudero, Adrián Castillo-Monroy, Andrea P. Valladares, Fernando |
author_sort |
García-Palacios, Pablo |
title |
Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
title_short |
Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
title_full |
Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
title_fullStr |
Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
title_sort |
dominant plant species modulate responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slopes |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2010-10 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342040 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100012818 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007406 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000409 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004837 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77955554453 |
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