Research Seminar - Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment

Seminar Abstract: The search for appropriate management strategies to control invasive plants is an important theme in environmental management. However, the recovery of the original species complement does not necessarily respond predictably to restoration efforts. Increasing the successes of restoration practice requires an understanding of the resistance and resilience of invasive species and the response of the developing community after invasive plant control. We investigated the effects of recommended Pteridium aquilinum-control treatments on vegetation composition and diversity in seven field-experiments in four regions of Great Britain. These experiments were designed to change the dominated Pteridium aquilinum ecosystems into either heathland or acid-grassland. Here, we tested two treatments types: ‘one-off’ treatments (applied only at the start) and a ‘repeated’ (applied regularly) treatment, against an untreated experimental control. We showed that (i) where the target is to produce Calluna-heathland “repeated” treatments were effective for controlling bracken and moving species composition towards an alternative state, but (ii) where the target is to produce acid-grassland both “one-off” and “repeated” treatments produced changes in species composition in the correct direction, but the effectiveness of “one-off” treatments was site-dependent. Therefore, here a test of one-off treatment effectiveness is needed on each acid-grassland site. However, “repeated” were site-independent but they took longer to work and were more expensive than spraying ones.

For more information on Dr Alday, please visit www.researchgate.net/profile/Josu_Alday/

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