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... Lipoma, Funes, and Díaz (2018) identified fire to significantly reduce the viable number of seeds in the soil compared to pre-burnt conditions, and as most weeds have dense seedbanks, this can be beneficial in reducing at least the surface seedbanks of some species (Peltzer & Douglass, 2019). In contrast, some species, particularly broadleaf weeds such as Echium plantagineum, are promoted by fire (Prober, Thiele, & Lunt, 2004). This suggests that follow-up weed management of burnt sites is critical for the successful establishment of native species. ...
... While carbon addition has proven to be successful, it is a time and resource-demanding approach. Prober et al. (2004) used 500 g of sugar for every square metre, which was reapplied every 3 months, making this technique impossible to implement at a landscape scale. Further, it is only suitable with nitrophytic weeds (Blumenthal et al., 2003). ...
Article
Globally, temperate grasslands have been significantly degraded as a result of urbanisation, grazing and agriculture. Weeds now dominate most of these ecosystems, resulting in the loss of ecosystem services, reduced carrying capacity for farmers, and loss of habitat for native plants and animals. This paper reviews the literature relating to temperate grassland restoration efforts across the globe, noting which techniques and combinations have been used successfully to reduce weed dominance and promote native recruitment and establishment. This review has concluded that using a combination of four restoration techniques provided the highest level of success, with the caveat that, ongoing weed management should be budgeted for in all projects. There is no single optimal method for restoration and weed control, with success depending on specific site conditions and the scope and aims of particular projects. However, any form of target plant transfer was observed to significantly enhance the restoration's success and reduce exotic plant biomass. There is clearly a need for an increase in long‐term monitoring of restoration projects in order to make more confident assumptions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... In early November 2015, each plot (including the Control) was hand broadcast with 5 g of mixed native grass seed and the sugar and sawdust applied. White sugar was applied manually at the rate of 0.5 kg m À2 and reapplied at the same rate in January 2016 (Prober et al. 2004). Sawdust was spread in a uniform 2-cm layer over the plot surface. ...
... In our study, the sugar/glyphosate and sugar/sawdust treatments were effective in reducing weed emergence, probably because these treatments combined 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' control, which reduced existing weed biomass and addressed the underlying issue of topsoil nutrient enrichment (Prober et al. 2004;Prober and Lunt 2008;Gibson-Roy et al. 2010). Carbon addition performs a similar function to scalping in reducing soil N concentrations. ...
Article
Restoring the grassy understorey to temperate woodlands in south-eastern Australia is often disregarded due to a poor understanding of the techniques involved. The natural recruitment of native grasses is uncommon in the remnants of some of these woodlands, so the restoration of the grass layer is often dependent on interventions to overcome restoration barriers. Soil enrichment from agricultural fertilisers favours the invasion of exotic broadleaf weeds and grasses, and is one of the primary barriers to the successful recruitment and establishment of native grasses, which dominated before agricultural development. This study on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales investigated the effects of different weed control treatments-scalping, glyphosate (Roundup®) herbicide, and combinations of glyphosate with carbon (sugar and sawdust) addition and a control (nil treatment) recruitment of native grasses and weed emergence after broadcast seeding. The experimental site was a mown grass lawn consisting of fescue (Festuca arundinacea Shreb.), cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) and paspalum (Paspalum dilatatum Poir). Native grass recruitment varied significantly between treatments. The maximum number of recruits in scalped plots was 29 recruits m-2 compared with an average of <2 recruits m-2 for the glyphosate and glyphosate carbon combinations. Scalping reduced soil nitrogen from 0.6% in non-scalped plots to 0.1% and phosphorus from 191.6ppm to 40.3ppm. Maximum weed cover occurred in the glyphosate herbicide treatment (45%), whereas combinations of glyphosate plus either sugar or sawdust maintained weed cover at 13%. The present study suggests that scalping may be a successful intervention strategy because it has the potential to significantly improve native grass recruitment compared with other restoration methods used in this study. Scalping allows more time for native grasses to germinate and establish in the absence of competitive fast-growing exotic weeds.
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