Patterning Ecological Restoration after Weeds

Authors

Stephen L. Young, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research ServiceFollow
Erik P. Hamerlynck, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southwest Watershed Research CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2022

Citation

Restoration Ecology (2022)

doi: 10.1111/rec.13841

Comments

This article is a United States government work and is in the public domain in the USA

Abstract

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent. Disturbances stemming from anthropogenic or natural causes make plant community restoration challenging. The introduction of fast-growing weeds that generate high biomass and produce copious seed is most threatening to plant communities. A paradigm shift in ecosystem restoration is needed that emphasizes traits and affected ecological processes similar to weeds. The repeated introduction of seed from native plants with weedy characteristics follows the propagule pressure and evolution of invasiveness hypotheses. In targeting areas with heavy weed populations, native plants could establish and more successfully develop into functioning plant communities.