Sedge Transplant Survival in a Reconstructed Channel: Influences of Planting Location, Erosion, and Invasive Species

Abstract

Sedge transplanting success in recently constructed channels is essential because the lack of vegetation makes the channel highly susceptible to erosion and non‐native plant invasion. In this study, greenhouse grown plugs of Carex nebrascensis Dewey (Nebraska sedge) and C. utriculata Boott (beaked sedge) were transplanted onto two different channel geomorphic surfaces, depositional and erosional, for two different experiments. The first experiment tested the effects of planting location on sedge survival and growth and the second tested the effects of Cirsium arvense presence on transplant survival and growth. Survival during the first growing season was the same for both species; however, shoot numbers were greater for C. nebrascensis (98 shoots/m2) compared to C. utriculata (84 shoots/m2) at the end of the first growing season. Greater shoot numbers also occurred on depositional planting locations (117 and 165 shoots/m2) compared to erosional planting locations (65 and 59 shoots/m2) at the end of the first and second growing seasons, respectively. The presence of Ci. arvense was observed to reduce sedge shoot numbers regardless of sedge species during the first growing season but no significant difference was observed by the end of the second growing season. These results suggested that control of Ci. arvense did not increase sedge vegetative growth within two growing seasons. Results suggest that revegetation success was greatest on depositional geomorphic surfaces and that both species are appropriate for transplanting; however, C. nebrascensis outperformed C. utriculata at sites with water tables that averaged deeper than 30 cm over the growing season.