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Seedling emergence and summer survival after direct seeding for woodland restoration on old fields in south‐western A ustralia
Author(s) -
Hallett Lauren M.,
Standish Rachel J.,
Jonson Justin,
Hobbs Richard J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ecological management and restoration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.472
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1442-8903
pISSN - 1442-7001
DOI - 10.1111/emr.12110
Subject(s) - seedling , abiotic component , woodland , restoration ecology , agronomy , seeding , biology , soil water , ecology , revegetation , environmental science , agroforestry , forestry , geography , ecological succession
Summary Restoration opportunities provided by an emerging carbon market have largely focused on large‐scale woodland restoration projects. Gondwana L ink is one such project operating in a 1000‐km corridor in south‐western A ustralia. We identified environmental factors affecting the success of woody‐species restoration at a dry‐woodland G ondwana L ink site, P eniup, by relating the emergence and survival of 1522 seedlings to abiotic and biotic variables, including soil conditions and weed cover. We found soil conditions were highly variable across the site and, together with the dry M editerranean‐climate summer, affected seedling emergence and summer survival. Seedling emergence was higher in sandy soils, but summer survival was higher in clay soils. Most of the seedlings that emerged and survived the summer were in either the F abales or M yrtaceae family. We concluded that attempts to analyse restoration outcomes that do not consider how the influence of primary abiotic and biotic factors changes over time may mask the mechanisms driving seedling establishment.