霜冻对昆明植物园维管植物危害的调查分析

2013年12月中旬昆明出现严重的霜冻天气,导致植物大面积受害,造成了巨大的损失。若了解各类植物对极端低温危害的抵抗力,可为科学合理地预防和降低霜冻等冻害天气对园林植物的危害提供一定参考。作者抽样调查了昆明植物园90科225种植物的受害情况．并对受害程度与植物系统分类、形态特征和产地分布等方面的关系进行统计分析。结果表明蕨类植物抗冻性较差,裸子植物抗冻性较强,不同科的被子植物抗冻性差异较大：多年生草本比一年生草本抗冻性差,常绿木本植物比落叶木本植物抗冻性更强;本地物种比引进物种抗冻性较强。根据调查结果,对已有园林植物的保护和新的园林绿化建设提出了一定的建议。即根据不同植物的抗冻性强弱,一方面要对园林植物给予积极有效的保护和采取预防霜冻危害的措施,另一方面要结合环境条件和植物特征选择适宜种植的物种。     

Non-native plants rarely provide suitable habitat for native gall-inducing species

For insect herbivores, a critical niche requirement—possibly the critical niche requirement—is the presence of suitable host plants. Current research suggests that non-native plants are not as suitable as native plants for native herbivores, resulting in decreases in insect abundance and richness on non-native plants. Like herbivores, gall-forming insects engage in complex, species-specific interactions with host plants. Galls are plant tissue tumors (including bulbous or spindle-shaped protrusions on leaves, stems and other plant organs) that are induced by insects through physical or chemical damage (prompting plants to grow a protective tissue shell around the insect eggs and larvae). As such, we hypothesized that gall-inducing insect species richness would be higher on native than non-native plants. We also predicted higher gall-inducing insect species richness on woody than herbaceous plants. We used an extensive literature review in which we compiled gall host plant species by genus, and we assigned native or non-native (or mixed) status to each genus. We found that native plants host far more gall-inducing insect species than non-native plants; woody plants host more gall-inducing species than herbaceous plants; and native woody plants host the most gall-inducing species of all. Gall-inducing species generally are a very cryptic group, even for experts, and hence do not elicit the conservation efforts of more charismatic insects such as plant pollinators. Our results suggest that non-native plants, particularly non-native woody species, diminish suitable habitat for gall-inducing species in parallel with similar results found for other herbivores, such as Lepidopterans. Hence, the landscape-level replacement of native with non-native species, particularly woody ones, degrades taxonomically diverse gall-inducing species (and their inquilines and parasitoids), removing multiple layers of diversity from forest ecosystems.

     

How landscape modulators function: woody plant impact on seed dispersal and abiotic filtering

The Mediterranean landscape is characterized by a heterogeneous structure: a mosaic of woody plants (trees or shrubs) with scattered patches of herbaceous vegetation. Although the herbaceous and woody patches are adjacent to each other, plant species composition in them is substantially different. This could be attributed to either differences in environmental conditions between patch types (i.e., abiotic filters), or to dispersal limitations caused by the woody plants acting as dispersal filters. In this article, we focus on the relative impact of woody plants, applying these two filter types, in determining plant species composition in Mediterranean woodland. We experimentally manipulated shade and litter cover and examined the effect of each of these factors on plant species composition. We used seed-traps to evaluate seed arrival in the patches, and experimentally removed the shrub canopy to study the effect of the shrub as a physical barrier to seed entry. Results showed that plant species number and composition were not significantly affected by shade and litter manipulation. The number of trapped seeds were significantly higher in the open patches than in the woody patches, and removal of woody plants increased the number of trapped seeds in both open and woody patches, as a result of eliminating the physical obstacle to free seed movement. Our findings show that woody plants affect the herbaceous plant community by influencing seed dispersal, and highlight that they affect other organisms not only by modifying resource availability but also through the creation of a new landscape structure.     

Growth form rather than phylogenetic relationship predicts broad volatile emission patterns in the Brassicaceae

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from plants are known to mediate indirect defense against herbivores and trigger intra- and interplant signaling. While systemic defense response can be mediated both via volatile and vascular signals, it is not clear whether common ancestry and/or plant growth forms influence the choice of either mode in planta. We hypothesize that larger woody plants with a complex anatomy should rely more on volatile-mediated signaling, apparently to circumvent vascular restrictions that slow down the communication over a large distance. On the other hand, in smaller herbaceous plants faster systemic response can be achieved via vascular signaling. To investigate whether plant VOCs emission is related to plant phylogeny or growth form, we studied the composition of herbivory-induced plant volatiles in 13 Brassicaceae species representing all four evolutionary lineages, because this family is characterized by both a well-resolved phylogeny and highly diverse growth forms. Our results revealed that woody species consistently emitted a more complex blend of volatiles than herbaceous species. However, phylogenetic relatedness of the species did not explain the observed volatile emission patterns. This emphasizes the influence of growth form, rather than phylogenetic relationships on the variation in plant volatile emissions. Our findings suggest that woody, perennial plant species emit diverse VOCs, likely because these compounds comprise a more efficient mode of defense response in these large, anatomically complex plants.     

Plant functional diversity in tropical Andean páramos

ABSTRACT

Background: Tropical high mountains present extreme daily temperature variations, frequent high air evaporative demands and seasonal differences in soil water availability. Plants have adapted to these conditions through different avoidance-tolerance mechanisms. This review focuses on plant-growth forms and their adaptive strategies.

Aims: This integrated review of páramo plant traits aims at contributing to understanding the functioning of plant-growth forms and their significance on ecosystem properties under environmental climate and land-use changes.

Methods: Plant responses are presented along avoidance-tolerance gradients considering three main aspects: freezing resistance, water relations and gas exchange characteristics. Results from 45 herbaceous and 42 woody species along elevational gradients in the Venezuelan high Andes were analysed.

Results: Leaf supercooling is the common avoidance response of woody plants to night-time freezing temperatures, while herbaceous plants tolerate frost. Trees and caulescent rosettes maintain more positive leaf water potentials under water deficit conditions compared to more tolerant herbaceous species. All plant growth-forms showed strong stomatal control under dry-season conditions.

Conclusions: Páramo plant growth-forms may be separated according to an avoidance-tolerance gradient in response to water deficit and low temperature resistance. Woody growth-forms tend to avoid both freezing and water stress, while herbaceous forms tolerate frost and resist an unfavourable water status. Grasses and cushion plants are at the tolerant extreme of the gradient and coincide in that both reach the highest elevations in the páramo. Andean giant rosettes are freezing avoidant, particularly susceptible to water deficit and the most vulnerable, of all growth-forms, to changing environmental conditions.     

Tolerance to herbivory in woody vs. herbaceous plants

Research on plant tolerance to herbivory has been so far largely focussed on herbaceous plants partly due to the implicit assumption that woody plants are inherently lower in their compensatory potential as compared to herbs. However, tolerance to herbivory should be an important part of resistance of woody plants because their apparency to herbivory is high due to a large size and long life span, and their defence systems cannot completely exclude herbivory. Moreover, the longer life span, more complex modularity and higher sectorality of woody plants as compared to herbs imply that compensatory responses in woody plants may take several years to develop, and that consequences of herbivore damage to individual modules may profoundly differ from whole-plant responses. Therefore, short-term studies using branches or ramets as experimental units are likely to underestimate the tolerance of woody plants to herbivory. In addition, defoliation by insects (the most common type of herbivory experienced by woody plants) is less likely to release apical dominance and trigger biomass compensation than mammalian grazing on herbaceous plants. We conclude, therefore, that the seemingly different recovery potentials exhibited by woody and herbaceous plants are more likely to be the consequences of differences between the two types of plants in modular architecture, longevity and the type of herbivory they commonly experience rather than indications of inherent differences in compensatory ability. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Climate change,unpredictable cold waves and possible brakes on plant migration

Aim Increases in annual mean temperature in the course of current climate change are expected to facilitate mass species migration towards higher altitudes and latitudes. However, this migration may be slowed, or even temporarily reversed, by infrequent and unpredictable episodes of low winter temperatures. Iran experienced a severe cold wave in January and February 2008, giving an opportunity to observe the effects on a large number of woody plant species, many growing further north than their natural ranges. Location The study was carried out in the National Botanical Garden of Iran (35°44′20.06″ N; 51°10′25.66″ E). Method To estimate the damage caused to each individual woody plant in the garden, we adopted the following protocol; at the start of the growing season, at the end of March and beginning of April 2008, all woody species were inspected for damage. In the case of evergreens this took the form of obvious damage to foliage, usually manifested as severe browning. In the case of deciduous species, damage was recognized by the failure of all or part of the plant to produce new leaves; all affected individual plants were labelled. In July all labelled plants were rechecked and, based on whole or partial above‐ground die‐back, a final list of damaged individuals was produced. Results As expected, the majority of native and exotic species introduced from cold temperate habitats showed no freezing injuries. Many woody species in the garden were damaged or killed, despite their previous survival and growth, in many cases for up to 40 years. The majority of taxa (101 out of a total of 145) that suffered freezing‐induced damage were evergreens. Main conclusions The results indicate that despite an increase in mean annual temperature, unpredictable lethal cold waves may retard the expansion of plants towards higher altitudes and latitudes. Broadleaved evergreen species from warm climates were particularly badly affected, with many species suffering high rates of mortality.     

Morphological types of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in roots of understory plants in Japanese deciduous broadleaved forests

Morphological types of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in roots of understorey plants were examined in three different Japanese deciduous broadleaved forests. In total, 43 species belonging to 33 genera from 27 families were examined for the morphological types of AM. The number of flowering plant species having Paris-type AM was greater than those having Arum-type AM in each plot. This tendency was more prominent in herbaceous plants than woody plants with nine species having Paris-type associations among ten herbaceous plant species examined. Therefore, it is suggested from the ecological point of view that Paris-type associations could be advantageous for the herbaceous understorey plants growing slowly in these environments. The influence of plant identity on the morphological types of AM was also discussed by arranging the plants examined with the morphological types in a current plant phylogeny scheme. In this study, some new records on the morphological types of AM in some new plant families were obtained including the first report of a typical Arum-type AM in gymnosperms.     

Host plant predictability and the feeding patterns of monophagous,oligophagous, and polyphagous insect herbivores

Summary Host plant preferences for 34 insect herbivore species are reported. Most polyphagous herbivores feeding on annuals, herbaceous perennials, and woody perennials show distinct preferences for the least abundant plant species among their various host plants. In addition, some populations of widely distributed polyphagous species are much more specialized in their diet than host plant lists alone would suggest. The high level of polyphagy on annuals and herbaceous perennials is suggested to be strongly influenced by the unpredictability of the host plant that is, in turn, controlled by environmental variability. Oligophagous herbivores preferred the least abundant woody perennials on the study sites. Ten of the 22 monophagous herbivores preferred the rarest of all the plant species on the same sites.     

Species richness and phylogenetic diversity of different growth forms of angiosperms across a biodiversity hotspot in the horn of Africa

Woody and herbaceous plants are differentially influenced by the environment, with non‐random association with the evolutionary history of these taxa and their traits. In general, woody plants may have climate‐dominated niches, whereas herbaceous plants may have edaphic and microhabitat‐dominated niches. Here, we explored and mapped how the patterns of species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and structures of total, woody, and herbaceous plants vary across the geographical regions and with respect to 12 environmental variables across Ethiopia and Eritrea, in the horn of Africa. Our result showed that both richness and phylogenetic diversity had almost the same tendency in total woody and herbaceous plants, in which they showed positive relationships with annual precipitation, precipitation annual range of climate, all the three variables of topography, and total nitrogen and total extractable phosphorus of soil, and negative relations with mean annual temperature. Compared with the total and herbaceous plants, the environmental variables explained greater variance both in the standardized effect size phylogenetic diversity and net relatedness index for woody plants. Our results highlight that, on the large spatial scales, the environmental filtering process has played a greater role in structuring species into local communities for woody plants than for herbaceous plants.     

Does seed mass drive the differences in relative growth rate between growth forms?

The idea that herbaceous plants have higher relative growth rates (RGRs) compared with woody plants is fundamental to many of the most influential theories in plant ecology. This difference in growth rate is thought to reflect systematic variation in physiology, allocation and leaf construction. Previous studies documenting this effect have, however, ignored differences in seed mass. As woody species often have larger seeds and RGR is negatively correlated with seed mass, it is entirely possible the lower RGRs observed in woody species is a consequence of having larger seeds rather than different growth strategies. Using a synthesis of the published literature, we explored the relationship between RGR and growth form, accounting for the effects of seed mass and study-specific effects (e.g. duration of study and pot volume), using a mixed-effects model. The model showed that herbaceous species do indeed have higher RGRs than woody species, and that the difference was independent of seed mass, thus at all seed masses, herbaceous species on average grow faster than woody ones.     

山西关帝山森林群落物种、谱系和功能多样性海拔格局

探索和揭示生物多样性的空间格局和维持机制是生态学和生物地理学研究的热点内容, 但综合物种、系统进化和功能属性等方面的多样性海拔格局研究很少。该文以关帝山森林群落为研究对象, 综合物种、谱系和功能α和β多样性指数, 旨在初步探讨关帝山森林群落多样性海拔格局及其维持机制。研究结果表明: 随着海拔的升高(1 409-2 150 m), 关帝山森林群落物种丰富度指数(S)、谱系多样性指数(PD)和功能丰富度指数(FRic)整体上表现出上升的趋势, 特别是海拔1 800 m以上区域。随着海拔的升高, 总β多样性(β_total)和更替(β_repl)上升趋势明显, 而丰富度差异(β_rich)则逐渐下降。不同生活型植物的物种、谱系和功能多样性海拔格局差异较大。随着海拔的升高, 草本植物S和物种多样性指数(H′)上升趋势高于木本植物。影响草本植物S分布的主要因素是地形因子, 而影响木本植物S分布的主要因素是历史过程。随着海拔的升高, 木本植物β_total上升趋势要比草本植物明显。随着海拔的升高, 木本植物β_repl和β_rich分别表现出单峰格局和“U”形格局, 而草本植物β_repl和β_rich则分别表现出单调递增和单调递减的格局。随着环境差异和地理距离的增加, 群落间物种、谱系和功能β多样性显著增加。环境差异(环境过滤)对木本植物的β多样性具有相对较强的作用; 而环境差异(环境过滤)和地理距离(扩散限制)共同作用于草本植物的β多样性。     

Plant diversity in three types of hedgerows adjacent to cropfields

The farming landscape of eastern Canada is dotted with three main types of hedgerows: (1) natural woody, (2) planted woody and (3) herbaceous. The objective of this study was to compare the value of these habitats as a repository of plant biodiversity in agricultural areas of southern Quebec. The overall plant diversity was higher in natural hedgerows and they contained more plant species of conservation values than other hedgerow types. Plant species richness per quadrat was, however, higher in planted woody hedgerows, and together with the species composition, lead to the conclusion that planted hedgerows in their entirety consisted of an ecotone type of vegetation such as is found in field edges which usually support high plant diversity and productivity but where transient plant species predominate. Consequently, this study indicated that natural hedgerows fare better than planted hedgerows in terms of diversity of plants of conservation interest. In spite of that, planted woody hedgerows contained plant (and bird) species of some interest and should be favoured over more desolate herbaceous hedgerows. In areas where hedgerows were removed and are not re-establishing naturally, a mixture of deciduous trees and conifers should be encouraged in further windbreak planting programs so as to conciliate both the conservation and agronomic objectives. Furthermore, management practices should optimise the growth of establishing plants of conservation values.     

Will loss of snow cover during climatic warming expose New Zealand alpine plants to increased frost damage?

If snow cover in alpine environments were reduced through climatic warming, plants that are normally protected by snow-lie in winter would become exposed to greater extremes of temperature and solar radiation. We examined the annual course of frost resistance of species of native alpine plants from southern New Zealand that are normally buried in snowbanks over winter (Celmisia haastii and Celmisia prorepens) or in sheltered areas that may accumulate snow (Hebe odora) and other species, typical of more exposed areas, that are relatively snow-free (Celmisia viscosa, Poa colensoi, Dracophyllum muscoides). The frost resistance of these principal species was in accord with habitat: those from snowbanks or sheltered areas showed the least frost resistance, whereas species from exposed areas had greater frost resistance throughout the year. P. colensoi had the greatest frost resistance (−32.5°C). All the principal species showed a rapid increase in frost resistance from summer to early winter (February–June) and maximum frost resistance in winter (July–August). The loss of resistance in late winter to early summer (August–December) was most rapid in P. colensoi and D. muscoides. Seasonal frost resistance of the principal species was more strongly related to daylength than to temperature, although all species except C. viscosa were significantly related to temperature when the influence of daylength was accounted for. Measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence indicated that photosynthetic efficiency of the principal species declined with increasing daylength. Levels of frost resistance of the six principal alpine plant species, and others measured during the growing season, were similar to those measured in tropical alpine areas and somewhat more resistant than those recorded in alpine areas of Europe. The potential for frost damage was greatest in spring. The current relationship of frost resistance with daylength is sufficient to prevent damage at any time of year. While warmer temperatures might lower frost resistance, they would also reduce the incidence of frosts, and the incidence of frost damage is unlikely to be altered. The relationship of frost resistance with daylength and temperature potentially provides a means of predicting the responses of alpine plants in response to global warming.     

Differential effects of goat browsing on herbaceous plant community in a two-phase mosaic

The impact of herbivores on herbaceous plant communities is usually attributed to direct consumption of plants. We hypothesized that goats affect herbaceous plants both directly (consumption by foraging) and indirectly, by changing environmental conditions through modification of woody plant structure. We assessed the effects of goats browsing on environmental conditions, landscape structure, and herbaceous plants to link the direct and indirect effects of goats on herbaceous communities. Our model system was the Mediterranean woodland in Mt. Carmel, Israel. This is a two-phase mosaic landscape, composed of herbaceous (open) and woody patches. We delineated 10 plots of 1000 m², goats were introduced to five plots and five plots remained without goats. We monitored plant species richness and composition in two adjacent patch types (woody and open) in each plot. For each patch type, in all plots, we collected data on environmental conditions. We analyzed landscape structure using landscape metrics derived from a high-resolution vegetation map. We found that goats modified the structure of woody plants and hence the landscape mosaic. This alteration was associated with changes in environmental conditions, with more light penetration and higher temperatures. The impact of goats on the herbaceous plant community depended on patch type. In open patches, goats affected the herbaceous community mostly by direct consumption, whereas in woody patches they affected the herbaceous community mainly by modification of abiotic conditions. Our results stress the importance of considering landscape and patch structure in analyzing the effect of herbivory on plant communities.     

Effects of contemporary environment and Quaternary climate change on drylands plant diversity differ between growth forms

Previous studies on large‐scale patterns in plant richness and underlying mechanisms have mostly focused on forests and mountains, while drylands covering most of the world's grasslands and deserts are more poorly investigated for lack of data. Here, we aim to 1) evaluate the plant richness patterns in Inner Asian drylands; 2) compare the relative importance of contemporary environment, historical climate, vegetation changes, and mid‐domain effect (MDE); and 3) explore whether the dominant drivers of species richness differ across growth forms (woody vs herbaceous) and range sizes (common vs rare). Distribution data and growth forms of 13 248 seed plants were compiled from literature and species range sizes were estimated. Generalized linear models and hierarchical partitioning were used to evaluate the relative contribution of different factors. We found that habitat heterogeneity strongly affected both woody and herbaceous species. Precipitation, climate change since the mid‐Holocene and climate seasonality dominated herbaceous richness patterns, while climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum dominated woody richness patterns. Rare species richness was strongly correlated with precipitation, habitat heterogeneity and historical climatic changes, while common species richness was strongly correlated with MDE (woody) or climate seasonality (herbaceous). Temperature had little effects on the species richness patterns of all groups. This study represents the first evaluation of the large‐scale patterns of plant species richness in the Inner Asian drylands. Our results suggest that increasing water deficit due to anthropogenic activities combined with future global warming may increase the extinction risk of many grassland species. Rare species (both herbaceous and woody) may face severe challenges in the future due to increased habitat destruction caused by urbanization and resource exploitation. Overall, our findings indicate that the hypotheses on species richness patterns based on woody plants alone can be insufficient to explain the richness patterns of herbaceous species.     

Functional correlates of allelopathic potential in a successional plant community

Allelopathy, plant–plant interactions mediated through chemical production, is an active area of ecological research. Despite this widespread interest, we still lack community scale information on the prevalence of this interaction and the types of species that may be expected to be allelopathic. To address this research need, the allelopathic potential of 65 plant species from all stages of succession in the Piedmont region of New Jersey, USA, was determined with laboratory bioassays. The strength of each species’ allelopathic activity was then related to life form, origin, and fundamental plant traits. The vast majority of species tested exhibited significant allelopathic effects in the bioassays, with many of these having fairly strong effects. Overall, the allelopathic potential of species decreased with life span, roughly following the successional transitions from short-lived to long-lived herbs and to woody species. Herbaceous species on average were more allelopathic than woody species, but there was no difference between native and non-native species once life form was accounted for. In a principal components analysis, allelopathy was associated with other plant traits, but these relationships differed between woody and herbaceous species. Allelopathic potential was positively associated with plant height in herbaceous species, but negatively associated with height, leaf mass, and seed mass in woody species. These results indicate that allelopathy may be a quite common ecological strategy in plants and is equally common in both native and non-native species. The linkage of allelopathy with other plant functional traits suggests that allelopathy can and should be integrated into the broader suite of plant strategies that are studied.     

上海大金山岛植被功能组成对草本植物、土壤动物和细菌多样性的影响

揭示植物群落对土壤动物和微生物多样性的上行调控效应有助于理解不同营养级生物多样性的维持机制。以往的研究主要集中在植物物种多样性对土壤动物和微生物多样性的影响,而关于植被功能组成自下而上的影响研究较少。以上海大金山岛13个植物群落为对象,在分析落叶木本植物占比与树木和草本物种多样性,以及土壤动物和细菌多样性的关系基础上,利用结构方程模型区分了落叶木本植物占比对土壤动物和细菌多样性的直接与间接影响效应。结果显示：落叶木本植物占比不仅分别对草本物种多样性和土壤动物多样性分别产生直接正效应和负效应（P<0.01;P<0.05）,也会通过草本物种的级联效应间接的降低地下土壤细菌多样性（P<0.10）。然而,木本植物多样性仅与草本物种多样性显著正关联（P<0.10）,与土壤动物和细菌多样性无显著关联（P>0.10）。该研究结果表明,相较于木本植物多样性,落叶植物占比在中亚热带北缘森林生态系统不同营养级生物多样性维持格局中扮演着更为重要的角色。     

Summer frost resistance and freezing patterns measured in situ in leaves of major alpine plant growth forms in relation to their upper distribution boundary

Summer frost resistance and ice nucleation temperatures for 33 alpine plant species were measured in situ to avoid the shortcomings of laboratory tests. Species were selected to investigate the relationship between plant stature and upper distribution boundary, and frost resistance and freezing patterns. The species tested in situ were on average 1.1 K (± 0.2, SE) frost hardier than in laboratory tests. Frost resistance (LT₅₀) ranged from ?4.5 to ?14.6 °C and appeared insufficient to protect against air temperature minima, corroborating reports of natural frost damage. All species tolerated extracellular ice formation (recorded at ?1.9 ± 0.2 °C; E1). Initial frost damage occurred at average temperatures 4.9 K below E1. In 64% of the species a second exotherm (E2) and frost damage were recorded between ?3.7 and ?9.4 °C. In the highest ranging species E2 was not detectable. Frost resistance increased with increasing upper distribution boundary (0.4 K per 100 m), corresponding well with the altitudinal decrease in air temperature minima. No relationship between plant stature and frost resistance was found. Graminoids were significantly frost hardier than other growth forms. Frost survival at high altitudes will depend not only on altitudinal increase in frost resistance but also on freezing avoidance strategies, snow cover protection and a high recuperation capacity.     

Invading Monotypic Stands of Phalaris arundinacea: A Test of Fire, Herbicide, and Woody and Herbaceous Native Plant Groups

Phalaris arundinacea L. is an aggressive species that can dominate wetlands by producing monotypic stands that suppress native vegetation. In this study invasion windows were created for native species in monotypic stands of P. arundinacea with either fire or herbicide. Three native species groups, herbaceous plants, herbaceous seeds, and woody shrubs, were planted into plots burned or treated with herbicide in the early spring. Fire did not create an effective invasion window for native species; there was no difference in P. arundinacea root and shoot biomass or cover between burned and control plots (p≥ 0.998). Herbicide treatment created an invasion window for native species by reducing P. arundinacea root and shoot biomass for two growing seasons, but that invasion window was fast closing by the end of the second growing season because P. arundinacea shoot biomass had nearly reached the shoot biomass levels in the control plots (p= 0.053). Transplant mortality, frost, and animal herbivory prevented the herbaceous species and woody seedlings from becoming fully established in the plots treated with herbicide during the first year of the experiment. Transplanted monocots had a greater survival than dicots. By the second growing season the herbaceous group had the greatest mean areal cover (5%), compared to the woody seedlings (3%) and seed group (0%). Long‐term monitoring of the plots will determine whether the herbaceous transplants will compete effectively with P. arundinacea and whether the woody species will survive, shade the P. arundinacea, and accelerate forest succession.