Plant Functional Group Composition on Restored Longleaf Pine—Wiregrass (Pinus palustris—Aristida stricta) Savannas with a History of Intensive Agriculture

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We monitored plant community assembly during the first five years of longleaf pine—wiregrass (Pinus palustris—Aristida stricta) savanna restoration on four former bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) pastures in peninsular Florida, which were restored via removal of exotic vegetation followed by mechanical planting with a wild-harvested native seed mix. We sampled randomly selected vegetation quadrats in each restored pasture annually, as well as randomly selected quadrats in each of four reference sites. All species were assigned to one of five functional groups (C4 graminoids, C3 graminoids, forbs, legumes, or shrubs) and one of three floristic quality categories (characteristic, pioneer, or weedy). Five years after restoration, we found that native C4 graminoids had supplanted the sod-forming P. notatum as the dominant graminoids on all sites. Restored sites had higher average C4 graminoid and forb cover than reference sites, but lower average species richness in both categories. Reference sites had...