Fungal suppression as a means to control leafy spurge and restore range health

抑制真菌是控制绿叶大戟和恢复牧场健康的一种手段

• 批准号: 523921-2018
• 负责人: Bennett, Jonathan
• 金额: $ 1.86万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=645162
• 关键词: Fungal; suppression; means; control; leafy

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) is a widespread invasive plant that has infested nearly two million hectares of land in North America, with costs projected to exceed a billion dollars in Canada alone. Many of these effects derive from the fact that leafy spurge forms large monocultures that reduce biodiversity and forage for livestock. Because leafy spurge produces extensive rhizomes and abundant seed, it can recover rapidly from disturbance and is difficult to control. However, leafy spurge is reliant on symbiotic soil fungi (mycorrhizal fungi) for nutrients: disrupting these symbioses with fungicide may allow resident vegetation to recover in invaded areas. Recovery of the resident vegetation may also be enhanced by defoliating leafy spurge - which would reduce shading - and by reseeding resident species that do not rely on mycorrhizal fungi for soil nutrients. The proposed research evaluates fungicide as a control measure for leafy spurge, by establishing an experiment suppressing fungi, defoliating leafy spurge using herbicide and mowing, and reseeding native plants. This experiment will be distributed across 24 native grassland sites spanning the range of leafy spurge invasion in Saskatchewan. Within the experiment, we will monitor effects on leafy spurge populations as well as the structure, abundance, and nutritive value of the native plant community. These data will be used to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed control measures, and will be combined with local environment measurements to identify which conditions facilitate leafy spurge control and vegetation recovery. Additionally, to evaluate treatment effects on plant-soil interactions, we will combine these results with measurements of microbial colonization of leafy spurge roots and soil microbial community structure. This project will increase our understanding of the effects of leafy spurge invasion in general, and in Saskatchewan in particular. Further, we will use these results to develop context dependent recommendations for leafy spurge control, including which native species can be reseeded to suppress leafy spurge.

叶刺草（Euphorbia esula）是一种广泛存在的入侵植物，在北美已经侵染了近200万公顷的土地，仅在加拿大就造成了超过10亿美元的损失。这些影响中有许多源于这样一个事实，即叶状茎叶形成了大型单一栽培，减少了生物多样性和牲畜的饲料。由于叶菜根茎粗大，种子丰富，能迅速从干扰中恢复，且难以控制。然而，叶菜依赖于共生土壤真菌（菌根真菌）的营养：用杀菌剂破坏这些共生可能会使入侵地区的居民植被恢复。通过去除叶类植物的叶子（这将减少遮阳）和重新播种不依赖菌根真菌获取土壤养分的常驻物种，也可以加强常驻植被的恢复。本研究通过建立抑菌试验、除草剂除草除叶试验和补种原生植物试验，评价杀菌剂作为防治叶菜的措施。该实验将分布在萨斯喀彻温省24个原生草地上，涵盖了叶草入侵的范围。在实验中，我们将监测对叶类植物种群的影响，以及本地植物群落的结构、丰度和营养价值。这些数据将用于评估建议的控制措施的效果，并将与当地的环境测量相结合，以确定哪些条件有助于控制叶草和植被恢复。此外，为了评估处理对植物-土壤相互作用的影响，我们将把这些结果与叶菜根的微生物定植和土壤微生物群落结构的测量相结合。这个项目将增加我们对叶类植物入侵的影响的理解，特别是在萨斯喀彻温省。此外，我们将利用这些结果来制定基于环境的叶状茎花控制建议，包括哪些本地物种可以重新播种以抑制叶状茎花。