Consequences of soil compaction for seedling establishment: Implications for natural regeneration and restoration

Soil compaction can affect seedling root development by decreasing oxygen availability and increasing soil strength. However, little quantitative information is available on the compaction tolerances of non‐crop native species. We investigated the effects of soil compaction on establishment and deve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Austral ecology 2005-12, Vol.30 (8), p.827-833
Main Authors: Bassett, I.E, Simcock, R.C, Mitchell, N.D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agavaceae
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
compacted soils
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Cordyline
Cordyline australis
Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration
Forest soils
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Leptospermum scoparium
Myrtaceae
Oxygen
plant establishment
Planting
regeneration
root growth
seedling establishment
seedling growth
seedlings
shoots
soil compaction
soil strength
Soil testing
Trees
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Soil compaction can affect seedling root development by decreasing oxygen availability and increasing soil strength. However, little quantitative information is available on the compaction tolerances of non‐crop native species. We investigated the effects of soil compaction on establishment and development of two New Zealand native species commonly used in restoration programmes; Cordyline australis (Agavaceae) (cabbage tree) a fleshy rooted species, and Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae) (manuka) a very finely rooted species. Seedlings were grown in a range of soil compaction levels in growth cabinet experiments. Low levels of soil compaction (0.6 MPa) reduced both the number and speed of C. australis seedlings penetrating the soil surface. In contrast, L. scoparium seedlings showed improved establishment at an intermediate compaction level. Root and shoot growth of both species decreased with increasing soil strength, with L. scoparium seedlings tolerating higher soil strengths than did C. australis. Despite these results, soil strength accounted for only a small amount of variation in root length (R2 
ISSN:1442-9985
1442-9993
DOI:10.1111/j.1442-9993.2005.01525.x