Elucidating relationships between disturbance and invasion in riparian zones

Aims

By elucidating the relationships between the disturbance caused by flooding and weed invasion, and tree recruitment, this project will be able to provide land-managers with guidelines so their weed management activities can optimise tree recruitment and the creation of these bare areas through flooding, it is highly probable that the period immediately after a flood event is critical to tree seeding establishment. Understanding the dynamics of weed invasion and establishment during this recruitment window will allow the development of appropriate weed management strategies. It is possible that these strategies may differ, not only depending on the mix of weeds present, but as a consequence of river type.

Background

Riparian zones are highly dynamic landscape components, forming the interface between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Flood events are integral to the functioning of riparian zones, by periodically redistributing energy and materials. This results in heterogenous ecosystems providing numerous microsites in which different plants can establish. In both Australia and overseas it has been found that a wide range of native and exotic species exploit these microsites, making riparian zones some of the most biodiverse communities in the landscape.

This, however, results in sites with multiple weed species, increasing the complexity of weed management. This is further compounded by the limitations on chemical control methods which can be applied near waterways, while the presence of some level of native vegetation in the riparian zone also limits control options. This is particularly important in sites where the vegetation community depends on natural regeneration processes as some weed control strategies can destroy entire cohorts of young native plants.
 

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