Effects of experimental soil disturbance on revegetation by natives and exotics in coastal Californian meadows.

1. Disturbance is widely believed to facilitate invasions by exotic plants but is also important for the persistence of many native species. Here I report the results of a series of field experiments designed to investigate the effects of soil disturbance on natives and aliens in Californian grassland vegetation. I also compare the effects of different types of soil disturbance to establish whether some favour aliens to a greater degree than others. 2. In two experiments, conducted at different locations. three types of soil disturbance (excavation burial and simulated gopher mounds) were created, and their revegetation was compared with changes in undisturbed control plots over the next three years. A third experiment was used to provide data on the effects of soil disturbance on soil temperature moisture and KCI-extractable nitrogen 3. Disturbance affected both soil temperature and chemistry. Buried plots contained the most KCI-extractable nitrogen, and were also the warmest. Effects on soil moisture were relatively small. 4. Initially, most disturbances greatly reduced the numerical abundance both of groups dominated by natives (perennial graminoids and bulbs) and of groups dominated by aliens (annual grarminoids Disturbance also reduced maximal (summer) species richness but in some cases increased the fraction of richness contributed by natives. 5. In subsequent years richness rebounded as natives and exotics re-invaded. Native bulbs and perennial grarminoids were slow to recover instead, most disturbances increasingly became numerically dominated by exotic annual grasses, accentuating the effects of a multi-year drought. 6. The differing effects of experimental disturbances on aliens and natives can best he explained by considering relationships between sources of propagules life histories and geographical origins. 7. Some types of disturbance were less damaging to native-dominated groups than others, but most ultimately favoured exotic. Consequently, it may be difficult to develop management strategies that preserve the diversity of disturbance-dependent natives while still excluding weedy aliens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]