Historical influences on the vegetation and soils of the Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts coastal sandplain: Implications for conservation and restoration

Both disturbance history and previous land use influence present-day vegetation and soils. These influences can have important implications for conservation of plant communities if former disturbance and land use change species abundances, increase colonization of nonnative plant species or if they...

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Published in:	Biological conservation Vol. 136; no. 1; pp. 17 - 32
Main Authors:	Neill, Christopher, Von Holle, Betsy, Kleese, Katherine, Ivy, Kristin D., Colllins, Alexandra R., Treat, Claire, Dean, Mary
Format:	Journal Article Conference Proceeding
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2007 Elsevier
Subjects:	Animal, plant and microbial ecology Applied ecology Biological and medical sciences Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration Exotic species Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Land use history New England Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking Pinus resinosa Quercus ilicifolia Quercus velutina Sandplain grassland Sandplain shrubland Velutina United States North America Massachusetts America ANW, USA, Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard ANW, USA, Massachusetts USA, Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard USA, Massachusetts Exotic species Sandplain shrubland New England Sandplain grassland Land use history Grassland Littoral zone Introduced species Conservation Sandy soil Case history Land use Vegetation Ecological recovery Shrubbery Environmental protection
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Summary:	Both disturbance history and previous land use influence present-day vegetation and soils. These influences can have important implications for conservation of plant communities if former disturbance and land use change species abundances, increase colonization of nonnative plant species or if they alter soil characteristics in ways that make them less suitable for species of conservation interest. We compared the plant species composition, the proportion of native and nonnative plant species, and soil biogeochemical characteristics across seven dominant land use and vegetation cover types on the outwash sandplain of Martha’s Vineyard that differed in previous soil tillage, dominant overstory vegetation and history of recent prescribed fire. The outwash sandplain supports many native plant species adapted to dry, low nutrient conditions and maintenance of native species is a management concern. There was broad overlap in the plant species composition among pine ( Pinus resinosa, P. strobus) plantations on untilled soils, pine plantations on formerly tilled soils, scrub oak ( Quercus ilicifolia) shrublands, tree oak ( Q. velutina, Q. alba) woodlands, burned tree oak woodlands, and sandplain grasslands. All of these land cover categories contained few nonnative species. In contrast, agricultural grasslands had high richness and cover of nonnative plants. Soil characteristics were also similar among all of the woodland, shrubland and grassland land cover categories, but soils in agricultural grasslands had higher pH, extractable Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ in mineral soils and higher rates of net nitrification. The similarity of soils and significant overlap in vegetation across pine plantations, scrub oak shrublands, oak woodlands and sandplain grasslands suggests that the history of land use, current vegetation and soil characteristics do not pose a major barrier to management strategies that would involve conversion among any of these vegetation types. The current presence of high cover of nonnative species and nutrient-enriched soils in agricultural grasslands, however, may pose a barrier to expansion of sandplain grasslands or shrublands on these former agricultural lands if native species are not able to outcompete nonnative species in these anthropogenically-enriched sites.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0006-3207 1873-2917
DOI:	10.1016/j.biocon.2006.10.046