Extirpation or Coexistence? Management of a Persistent Introduced Grass in a Prairie Restoration

Abstract Introduced perennial grasses are one of the greatest constraints to prairie restoration. Herbicides suppress but do not eliminate introduced grasses, so we explored the interaction of herbicide with two additional controls: heavy clipping (to simulate grazing) and competition from native species. A 50‐year‐old stand of the introduced perennial grass Agropyron cristatum (crested wheatgrass) in the northern Great Plains was seeded with native grasses and treated with herbicide annually for 7 years in a factorial experiment. Clipping was applied as a subplot treatment in the final 3 years. Both herbicide and clipping significantly reduced the cover of A. cristatum, but clipping produced an immediate and consistent decrease, whereas herbicide control varied among years. The cover of A. cristatum decreased significantly with increasing cover of a seeded native grass, Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), suggesting that both top‐down (i.e., grazing) and bottom‐up (i.e., resource competition) strategies can contribute to A. cristatum control. No treatment had any effect on the seed bank of A. cristatum. Even in the most effective control treatments, A. cristatum persisted at low amounts (approximately 5% cover) throughout the experiment. The cover of B. gracilis increased significantly with seed addition and herbicide, and, after 7 years, was similar to that in undisturbed prairie. The total cover of native species increased significantly with clipping and herbicide, and species richness was significantly higher in plots receiving herbicide. Clipping season had no effect on any variable. In summary, no method extirpated A. cristatum, but clipping reduced its cover by 90% and doubled the cover of native species. Extirpation might not be a realistic goal, but relatively simple management allowed coexistence of native species.     

Monolithic Endocrown Vs. Hybrid Intraradicular Post/Core/Crown Restorations for Endodontically Treated Teeth; Cross-sectional Study

The gold standard for restoring Endodontically Treated Teeth (ETT) with successful clinical longevity requires having minimal invasive preparations and maximal tissue conservation. Many dentists still consider hybrid post/core/crown to be the first choice for restoring ETT. Endocrown is a viable alternative treatment modality to hybrid post/core/crown. This study aims to assess the proper judgment of dentists working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the use of monolithic endocrown versus hybrid post/core/crown for restoring ETT. The IRB of Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) Institutional Review Board reviewed this study. The questionnaire was validated and electronically distributed. The participants were pre-informed that their responses are completely anonymous and used for professional purposes only. The questionnaire surveyed dentists working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, about their preference for different ETT restorative modalities at various clinical scenarios. Data were analyzed using One-way ANOVA and t-test. All P-values of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. A total of 275 responses were collected; 61.45% were females and 38.55% males. 56% of them were general practitioners, while 16% were consultants. Prefabricated post/core was the most preferred technique among the participants (18.55%), followed by endocrown (12.36%), and lastly, cast post/core (8.73%). The amount of remaining tooth structure was the most influential in the treatment selection (30.18%), followed by the presence or absence of 1–2 mm ferrule (17.82%). Interocclusal space (12.36%) was the least influential factor. Endocrown recorded 63.27% as the most preferred line of treatment in case of insufficient inter-occlusal space. 40.36% preferred endocrown for patients with occlusal risk factors. The amount of the remaining tooth structure and the tooth position significantly affect the treatment options of the participants. Endocrown was the most preferred treatment modality for restoring ETT for patients with occlusal consideration.     

A Molecular and Fitness Evaluation of Commercially Available versus Locally Collected Blue Lupine Lupinus perennis L. Seeds for Use in Ecosystem Restoration Efforts

Dependence on wild seed sources is often impractical for large‐scale habitat restoration programs. Reliance on commercial seed supplies of unknown provenance and fitness is thereby warranted. Little consideration has been given, however, to how the large volumes of seed required should be sourced. We evaluated commercial and locally collected seed sources for potential use in a New York State‐based, landscape‐scale program for restoring blue lupine Lupinus perennis. Through analysis of microsatellite markers we determined that “native” lupine designations by some commercial suppliers were in fact interspecific hybrids and therefore unreliable; at least two commercial sources, however, were genetically as close to native New York populations as native New York populations were to one other. Common garden experiments revealed that seed source influenced first‐year overwintering survival and subsequent height growth of surviving plants; seed sources more closely related genetically to native New York populations survived better and produced more stems per individual in the field in the area targeted for restoration. We conclude that (1) commercial suppliers often but not always offer reliably characterized seed sources of sufficient genetic similarity to native populations to warrant their use in restoration projects and (2) genetic affinity of potential seed stock to native populations is positively related to its fitness in the environment targeted for restoration.     

Local grassland restoration affects insect communities

1. It is hypothesised that ecological restoration in grasslands can induce an alternative stable state shift in vegetation. The change in vegetation influences insect community assemblages and allows for greater functional redundancy in pollination and refuge for native insect species. 2. Insect community assemblages at eight coastal California grassland sites were evaluated. Half of these sites had undergone restoration through active revegetation of native grassland flora and half were non‐restored. Insects were collected from Lupinus bicolor (Fabaceae) within 2 × 2‐m² plots in spring 2017. Lupinus bicolor is a common native species that is used in California restoration projects, and home and state landscaping projects. 3. Ordination demonstrated that insect community assemblages were different between restored and non‐restored sites. These differences were seen in insect functional groups as well as taxa‐specific differences and were found to be driven by environmental characteristics such as non‐native forb cover. 4. Functional redundancy of herbivores decreased at restored sites, while pollinators became more redundant compared with non‐restored sites. The assemblages of the common species found at restoration sites contained more native insects than those found at non‐restored sites, including species such as Bombus vosnesenskii. 5. Local grassland restoration has the potential to induce an alternative stable state change and affect insect community assemblages. Additionally, it was found that grassland restoration can be a potential conservation tool to provide refugia for bumblebees (Bombus), but additional studies are required to fully understand its broader applicability.     

Restoration scenario planning at a Spanish quarry can be informed by assessing ecosystem services

We carried out an ecosystem service (ES) assessment at Soto de Pajares, a 400 ha active gravel quarry site located close to protected areas in the southeast of the Community of Madrid, Spain. The currently approved restoration plan is for quarry‐made excavations to be restored back to agricultural land. However, the site has been identified as being important for nature, so different restoration strategies should be considered. To better understand how these compare in terms of ES provision, which had not previously been done at mineral extraction sites in Spain, we used an established toolkit: the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site‐based Assessments (TESSA). We compared the agriculture‐focused restoration plan and two nature‐focused alternative scenarios, one without public access (conservation scenario) and the other with public access (compromise scenario). Monetary estimations of the value of agricultural production, climate change mitigation, and recreation were calculated in three scenarios. Results indicated that the compromise scenario provided the greatest annual value (€91,409), mainly due to its potential visitors, surpassing both agricultural (€68,504) and conservation (€48,556) scenarios. Considering the higher costs associated with restoring sites to agricultural production, nature conservation may be an attractive option for extraction companies. The use of TESSA at this site has provided valuable information to quarry managers to help guide their decision‐making.