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One advantageous strategy for the restoration of human‐disturbed landscapes is the use of ecologically “important” species such as nurse plants. We propose a field‐based approach to measure the functional importance of nurse species (i.e. their relative facilitative effects on other plant species) and to identify which species will yield more efficient revegetation programs regarding their abundance. We identified 30 nurse‐beneficiary spatial associations, with the functional importance varying largely among four nurse species and three human‐disturbed areas. A Mediterranean endemic palm was the most important nurse species, thus showing its potential key role in revegetation programs by promoting spatial associations with late‐successional plant species. We encourage restorers to use nurse species with a disproportionate (regarding their relative abundance) impact on ecosystems to save additional resources.
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First record of plant-plant facilitative interaction from the Moscovian (Pennsylvanian, upper Carboniferous) of North China
Fallen logs acting as a seedbed for trees to aid the regeneration of vegetation is a common ecological strategy in modern forests. However, the origin, occurrence, and evolution of this nurse log strategy in the geological time is unclear. Here we report a ca. 310-millionyear-old permineralized cordaitalean tree trunk from the Moscovian (Pennsylvanian, upper Carboniferous) Benxi Formation in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province, North China, with evidence of probable cordaitalean rootlets growing inside the trunk. The specimen is interpreted as a nurse log for regeneration of cordaitaleans in coastal lowlands. It provides the first glimpse of plant-plant facilitative interaction between Pennsylvanian cordaitaleans in Cathaysia. We interpret that the Moscovian cordaitalean seedlings preferentially established on the fallen log owing to the ability of the rotting wood to store fresh water. The nurse log provided a stable substrate in an environment with episodic salinity and/or water table variations. In combination with previous records, it is suggested that a sophisticated terrestrial ecosystem with multiple interactions between plants and other organisms have developed on the central North China Craton no later than the Middle Pennsylvanian.
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- PAR ID:
- 10467754
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Palaeoworld
- ISSN:
- 1671-2412
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2023.08.002
