Creating Invasion Resistant Soils via Nitrogen Management

Invasion by annual grasses, such as cheatgrass, into the western U. S. sagebrush-steppe is a major concern of ecologists and resource managers. Maintaining or improving ecosystem health depends on our ability to protect or re-establish functioning, desired plant communities. In frequently disturbed ecosystems, nutrient status and the relative ability of species to acquire nutrients are important drivers of invasion, retrogression, and succession. Thus, these processes can potentially be modified to direct plant community dynamics toward a desired plant community. The overall objective of this review paper is to provide the ecological background of invasion by exotic plants and propose a concept to facilitate the use of soil nitrogen (N) management to achieve desired plant communities that resist invasion. Based on the literature, we propose a model that predicts the outcome of community dynamics based on N availability. The model predicts that at low N levels, native mid-and late-seral species are able to successfully out-compete early-seral and invasive annual species up to some optimal level. However, at some increased level of N, early-seral species and invasive annual grasses are able to grow and reproduce more successfully than native mid-and late-seral species. At the high end of N availability to plants, the community is most susceptible to invasion and ultimately, increased fire frequency. Soil N level can be managed by altering microbial communities, grazing, mowing, and using cover crops and bridge species during restoration. In these cases, management may be more sustainable since the underlying cause of invasion and succession is modified in the management process.