Roadside revegetation in Glacier National Park, USA: effects of herbicide and seeding treatments

Published source details Tyser R.W., Asebrook J.M., Potter R. & Kurth L.L. (1998) Roadside revegetation in Glacier National Park, USA: effects of herbicide and seeding treatments. Restoration Ecology, 6, 197-206.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Sow or plant nurse plants (alongside seeding/planting of grassland species) Action Link

Sow or plant nurse plants (alongside seeding/planting of grassland species)

A replicated, paired, controlled study in 1992–1995 in five former prairie sites destroyed by road widening in Montana, USA (Tyser et al. 1998) found that sowing seeds of nurse plants alongside that of grassland species did not alter forb or grass cover. Cover of native forbs did not differ significantly between areas where nurse plant seeds were sown alongside seeds of grassland species (2.8–10.6%) and areas where seeds of grassland species were sown without nurse plant seeds (3.5–8.1%). The same pattern was true for non-native forbs (nurse: 3.8–21.4%; no nurse: 2.9–22.7%), native grasses (nurse: 7.8–10.0%; no nurse: 5.3–12.1%), and non-native grasses (nurse: 19.4–24.8%; no nurse: 14.1–29.1%). In summer 1992, after construction of a road, original topsoil was replaced at the five sites. In each site, two blocks containing two 8 × 4 m plots were established. In autumn 1992 or 1993, seeds of the nurse plant Triticum × Agropyron were sown with native seeds in one plot, and native seeds, but no nurse plant seed, was sown in one plot. In October 1992, all plots were sprayed with a mixture of wood mulch, tackifier, and nitrogen fertilizer. Vegetation cover of all species was estimated in July 1995 using five 50 × 20 cm quadrats in each plot.

(Summarised by: Philip Martin)