Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #424449
Research Project: Knowledge Systems and Tools to Increase the Resilience and Sustainability of Western Rangeland Agriculture

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Modifying dryland connectivity alongside herbicide application to restore herbaceous cover in shrub-encroached grasslands

Author
item REICHENBORN, MOLLY - New Mexico State University
item LEHNHOFF, ERIK - New Mexico State University
item Webb, Nicholas
item FAIST, AKASHA - University Of Montana

Submitted to: Society for Ecological Restoration Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2025
Publication Date: 10/4/2025
Citation: Reichenborn, M., Lehnhoff, E., Webb, N.P., Faist, A. 2025. Modifying dryland connectivity alongside herbicide application to restore herbaceous cover in shrub-encroached grasslands. Society for Ecological Restoration Abstracts. Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Many arid and semi-arid grasslands worldwide experience woody plant encroachment (WPE), which often reduces herbaceous perennial plant cover and increases bare soil exposure between encroaching woody plants. Bare soil interspaces can then form long, connected pathways through which ecosystem resources (e.g., soil, plant litter, seeds) are redistributed across the landscape by wind and water. Increased connectivity and sediment transport through these pathways can heavily impede the re-establishment of herbaceous species, creating a self-reinforcing feedback that hinders restoration. We installed four Connectivity Modifier (wire mesh formed into an “X” pattern; ConMod) and control arrays in bare soil interspaces on each of our 16 5-ha plots, half of which were previously treated with herbicide to control encroaching Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr.) shrubs on the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico, USA. We expected that ConMods would reduce sediment movement, increase retention of ecosystem resources, and support grassland restoration more effectively than herbicide application to reduce WPE alone. After two growing seasons, ConMod arrays retained more resources (plant litter, soil) than control arrays. Annual species only increased in response to herbicide and perennial forb abundance did not differ across any combination of the herbicide or interspace connectivity treatments. Perennial grasses, often the key functional group targeted in grassland restoration, were most abundant within ConMod arrays on herbicide-treated plots, however. Our results indicate that the combination of herbicide treatment to control WPE and ConMods to reduce connectivity can promote early re-establishment of perennial grasses in arid shrub-encroached grasslands.