| Abstract Detail
Ecological Section Stark, Tara [1], Ewers, Frank W. [2]. Landscape Restoration in a Coastal Sage Scrub Community. Coastal sage scrub (CSS) community represents the major shrubland vegetation type of cismontane Southern California. Native vegetation consists of aromatic, shallow-rooted drought-deciduous shrubs such as Artemisia californica (California sagebrush), Eriogonum fasciculatum (buckwheat), and Salvia mellifera (black sage). This community provides a home to more than 200 plant and animal species that are currently endangered, threatened, or of ‘special concern’. Distribution of CSS ranges from San Francisco to Baja California but it has now been reduced to 10-15% (1,000 – 1,500 km2) of its original area due mainly to urbanization, agriculture, and invasion of exotic annuals. Because of the human activities that have greatly reduced the amount of CSS habitat, it has gained designation as an endangered vegetation type. The Voorhis Ecological Reserve (VER), containing a degraded coastal sage scrub community, is located on the California Polytechnic University Pomona campus within the San Jose Hills. Although the VER does contain native plants (including the three listed above), it also contains a widespread invasive Hirschfeldia incana (false mustard). The goal of my thesis is to test whether reducing the cover of the dominant exotic plant species could improve the ecological integrity of the reserve. I have applied three different treatments and a control to ten plots and am monitoring their effects on the invasive and native plants present with the main goal of reducing percent cover of Hirschfeldia incana. The three treatments are mowing, herbicide (Roundup), and a combination of the two. Preliminary results suggest that the combination of mowing and herbicide is most successful at reducing percent cover, and I am monitoring every two months the impact of the treatments on seedling establishment of native and invasive species.
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1 - California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Biology, 3801 West Temple Ave, Pomona, CA, 91768, USA
2 - California State Polytechnic University, Biological Sciences, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA, 91768, USA
Keywords:
Coastal Sage Scrub Community
Hirschfeldia incana
restoration.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for BSA Sections
Session: P1
Location: Event Tent/Cliff Lodge
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2009
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: P1EC003
Abstract ID:72 |
