Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Matthew Grainger
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
The successful restoration of disturbed habitat is influenced by many factors; not least is the introduction of non-native species into the regional species pool. Such species may preclude native colonisation and deflect regeneration trajectories away from restoration targets. Successful restoration (commonly measured against reference sites) may therefore be an unobtainable goal. We aimed to identify whether non-native species divert regenerating trajectories of coastal dune forest. Using measures of ecological distance we first determined if successional trajectories of the herbaceous plant community in rehabilitating coastal dune forest sites were convergent. We then determined if multiple rehabilitating coastal dune forest sites became more similar to an undisturbed reference site as they aged and which species (both natives and non-natives) contributed the most to dissimilarity between the reference site and regenerating sites. The species composition in regenerating coastal dune forest plots became increasingly convergent as the time since disturbance increased. However, species composition appeared to deviate from that within an undisturbed reference site. Contrary to our expectations, non-native species did not contribute the most to dissimilarity, and thus not to the recorded deviation. The deviation from the reference forest is attributable to the higher abundance of 1) a native forest specialist in the reference site, and 2) the higher abundances of native species adapted to open canopy in the regenerating sites. This deviation of the species composition in regenerating sites from that in the undisturbed reference site may therefore be indicative of successional changes and is not attributable to the presence of non-native species.
Author(s): Grainger MJ, van Aarde RJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Ecological Restoration
Year: 2015
Volume: 33
Issue: 3
Pages: 246-255
Print publication date: 01/09/2015
Acceptance date: 27/04/2015
ISSN (print): 1543-4060
ISSN (electronic): 1543-4079
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3368/er.33.3.246
DOI: 10.3368/er.33.3.246
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric