Seedling emergence and survival of invasive pines in Argentinian mountain grasslands
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Seedling emergence and survival of invasive pines in Argentinian mountain grasslands Gabriela I. E. Brancatelli
. Martı´n R. Amodeo
. Sergio M. Zalba
Received: 19 August 2020 / Accepted: 28 October 2020 Ó Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Natural regeneration is a critical step for the dispersal of alien plants and the establishment of new invasive foci. The adequate timing and location of germination, as well as the survival of the seedlings, have direct effects on the recruitment of the population, and are expected to depend on habitat characteristics. Understanding the dynamics of these processes, and their variations according to the landscape at different scales, can be particularly important to design and implement control strategies. In this article, we evaluate differences in seedling emergence and establishment of Pinus halepensis in highland grasslands of the Argentine pampas, according to altitude, orientation of the slope and vegetation cover. Our results showed spatial variation on the rate of seedling emergence, with topography as a determining factor, possibly due to a facilitating effect on the slopes with higher incident solar radiation (NE at the study site). Slope exposition, on the contrary, seemed to have the opposite effect on the survival of seedlings. Once
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02410-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. G. I. E. Brancatelli (&) M. R. Amodeo S. M. Zalba GEKKO, Grupo de Estudios en Conservacio´n y Manejo, Departamento de Biologı´a, Bioquı´mica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur, San Juan 670 (8000), Bahı´a Blanca, Argentina e-mail: [email protected]
established, seedlings also survived better in sites with less solar exposure, probably due to protection from high evapotranspiration during the summer. These results could explain variations in the invasive performance of the species and guide management actions aimed at preventing its further expansion in the study area and in other habitats with similar characteristics. Keywords Invasive alien species Pine invasion Germination Seedling emergence Seedling survival Management
Introduction Invasive alien species are considered one of the main global threats to biodiversity (Lo¨vei and Lewinsohn 2012; Simberloff et al. 2013; Alexander et al. 2014). Woody plant invasions, in particular, have the ability to dominate the landscape and dramatically change the dynamics of grassland ecosystems (Williams and Wardle 2005). Several species of the Pinaceae family (hereafter Pines), almost exclusively native to the northern hemisphere, have been introduced and planted in different regions of the southern hemisphere for commercial exploitation, landscaping and control of soil erosion, and many of them have become invasive (Richardson and Higgins 2000; Simberloff
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