Importance of Early Life Stage Limitations on Recovering Populations ofLeptosyne gigantea,San Miguel Island, California

Abstract

Plant communities dominated by Leptosyne gigantea (tickseed, formerly giant coreopsis) are distributed widely across the California Islands and provide critical habitat for understory plants and vertebrates, especially in landscapes where trees are absent. Leptosyne gigantea populations were severely impacted by nonnative herbivores and by grazing and ranching practices during the last century. Although these impacts have been absent from most of the islands for over 2 decades, extensive spatial heterogeneity exists both within and across the islands in relation to population growth. Many sites support very dense stands of L. gigantea that established postgrazing; whereas others, particularly on Santa Barbara Island, have experienced relatively minimal increases in L. gigantea abundance and are still dominated by alien annual grasses. To determine the factors that most affect L. gigantea establishment and survival, I conducted seed amendment experiments across populations of variable density and age structure on San Miguel Island. These experiments tested the relative effects of seed predation, seed density, microhabitat conditions, stand density, and competition on germination and seedling survival. Postdispersal seed predation by deer mice reduced germination rates only in the highest density stands. Reduced soil moisture and interspecific competition with alien annual grasses had the strongest negative effects on both germination and seedling survival. The results suggest extreme spatial variability in regulating factors for L. gigantea that include rainfall, the abundance of annual grasses, consumer abundance, and intraspecific density dependence. The presence or absence of these influences on existing site conditions will determine succession following loss of the oldest-aged stands, which will likely occur soon.