Temporal patterns in seedling establishment on pocket gopher disturbances

Disturbances often facilitate seedling establishment, and can change the species composition of a community by increasing recruitment of disturbance-adapted species. To understand the effects of pocket gopher disturbances on alpine seedling dynamics, we examined the gopher disturbances effects on seedling emergence and survival on gopher disturbances 0 to 5 years old. In contrast to results from most other ecosystems, these recently created gopher mounds had lower seedling emergence and survival rates than undisturbed areas. A lack of correlation between species abundances on gopher mounds and undisturbed sites in one of the two communities studied suggested that a suite of disturbance-adapted species recruited onto the mounds. To explain low seedling emergence on recent gopher mounds, we quantified gopher mound seed banks and studied recruitment in a site with mounds that ranged from 0 to >20 years old. Seed numbers in first-year gopher mound soils were extremely low relative to undisturbed soils, and this pattern was mirrored in seedling establishment patterns over the long term. Gopher disturbance depressed seedling emergence density for the first 5 years. Subsequently, emergence density increased until at least 20 years following the disturbance. Emergence on disturbances more than 20 years old was higher than on undisturbed sites. Therefore, gopher disturbances probably facilitate seedling establishment in alpine dry and moist meadow; however, this process takes place over decades.