OOS 63 - Aboveground Vegetation and Soil Seed Bank Dynamics in Land Management and Restoration

Organizer(s)

• MR

  Molly Reichenborn, M.Sc.

  Graduate Research Assistant
  New Mexico State University
  Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States

Co-Organizer(s)

• IR

  Ian Renne, Ph.D.

  Associate Professor of Ecology
  Youngstown State University
  Youngstown, Ohio, United States

Historically, assessments of land health and decisions on restorative actions have been largely based on aboveground vegetation while neglecting the belowground propagule component of plant communities. Seeds deposited on the soil surface and in the soil profile act as a reservoir storing inputs from the plant community, including both transient and long-term, persistent seed components that in turn influence aboveground community composition. The capacity of the soil seed bank to respond to land management practices and other perturbations (e.g. drought) is key to understanding outcomes, both favorable and unfavorable, in the resulting aboveground plant community. In this session, speakers will present a collection of research examining soil seed banks in conjunction with aboveground vegetation to examine the dynamic relationship between these two components of the plant community and how they respond to ecosystem change from direct management (e.g. herbicide application, grazing) or indirect environmental disturbance. This session is presented with the overriding goal of demonstrating the importance of considering soil seed banks alongside traditional aboveground vegetation assessments to inform land management and restoration decisions.

Presentations:

• 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM PDT

  Saving for a rainy day: What can seed banks tell us about vegetation change under drought and disturbance?
  

  Presenting Author: Thomas Merchant – Deparment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder

  Co-author: Julie Larson – USDA-Agricultural Research Service

  Co-author: Katharine Suding – University of Colorado
• 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM PDT

  Impacts of shrub encroachment on soil seed bank dynamics in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert, U.S.A.
  

  Presenting Author: Ryan W.R. Schroeder, M.S. – University of Montana

  Co-author: Molly Reichenborn, M.Sc. – New Mexico State University

  Co-author: Erik A. Lehnhoff, PhD – New Mexico State University, Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science

  Co-author: Akasha M. Faist – University of Montana
• 3:45 PM – 4:00 PM PDT

  Assessing aboveground vegetation dynamics alongside seed bank sampling in response to shrub management
  

  Presenting Author: Molly Reichenborn, M.Sc. – New Mexico State University

  Co-author: Ryan W.R. Schroeder, M.S. – University of Montana

  Co-author: Akasha M. Faist – University of Montana

  Co-author: David C. Thompson – New Mexico State University

  Co-author: Erik A. Lehnhoff, PhD – New Mexico State University, Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science
• 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM PDT

  Rubus, the underappreciated keystone
  

  Presenting Author: Scott A. Rush – Mississippi State University

  Co-author: Scott A. Rush – Mississippi State University

  Co-author: Daniel U. Greene – Weyerhaeuser
• 4:15 PM – 4:30 PM PDT

  Vegetation and seed bank responses to herbicide in an annual grass-invaded Mojave Desert ecosystem
  

  Presenting Author: Ranae Sullivan – University of Nevada Reno

  Co-author: Beth Newingham – USDA ARS
• 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM PDT

  Great listeners are great strategists: the three dimensions regulating seed behavior yield lessons for restoration
  

  Presenting Author: Ian J. Renne, Ph.D. – Youngstown State University

  Co-author: Brandon T. Sinn, Ph.D. – Otterbein University

  Co-author: Jose L. Hierro, Ph.D. – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)–Universidad Nacional de La Pampa (UNLPam)