South Texas Wildlife, Volume 25, Number 3, Fall 2021 Page: 1
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SOUTH TEXAS WILDLIFE
A publication of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute Fal
at Texas A&M University-Kingsville Volume 2.[1 2021
5, No. 3From Nurse Plants to Gatekeepers: How
Cover Crops Promote Restoration Successby Dustin A. Golembiewski, Brianna M Slothower,
Emily R. Bishop, and David B. Wester
They're called "nurse plants." Once we realize
what they are, we see them everywhere. They do
what their name suggests: nurse plants facilitate the
growth of other plants. Throughout Texas, mesquite
plays the role of nurse plant by providing shade for
many other plants. Nurse plants offer more than a
favorable environment for other plants they can
enhance nutrient transfer to their associates. Ad-
ditionally, nurse plants can benefit from plants they
shelter through a variety of mechanisms including
soil microbial interactions.
Throughout the Rolling Plains, we see redberry
juniper under mesquite trees, and it seems that mes-
quite is nursing the juniper. But sometimes there's
an added twist: eventually, the juniper can engulf
its host, something that might be called "ecological
ingratitude."
These relationships are complicated. If a plant's
growth is enhanced by another plant, we call it facili-
tative interaction. If its growth is reduced, it's called
competitive interaction. Both positive and negative
effects can act simultaneously or alternately: it's the
net outcome that matters. Ecologists have studied
this for decades, often using woody species. But
plants like mare's-tail and Johnsongrass can foster
Editor's note: Dustin Golembiewski, Brianna Slothower, and Emily Bishop
are graduate students. Dr. David Wester is the Frances and Peter Swenson
Endowed Chair in Rangeland and Restoration Research Professor & Research
Scientist. All are with the CKWRI. Authors are indebted to Frances and Peter
Swenson and Alston and Holly Beinhorn for their support of this project...r
4
-Y 7
David Wester
A redberry juniper, initially established under the canopy of a live
mesquite, has engulfed its nurse plant, whose dead branches are seen
extending above the juniper.
certain native grasses in their canopy, too, as we've
found in tallgrass prairies in northeast Texas. It's
clear that plant to plant interactions are major drivers
in plant community structure and function.
We are taking cues from nature's nurses to im-
prove restoration success. If our goal is establish-
ment of native grasses, can we develop prescriptions
for restoration that include the use of other plants to
promote the success of our target species? To limit
the growth of undesirable plants? Selection of a
nurse plant is all-important.
Suppose you are restoring a pipeline right-of-way.
The soil is severely compacted bare ground with
high surface temperatures -a forbidding environ-
ment for plants. We have used an annual grass as a
nurse plant: browntop millet. We call it our 'cover
crop.' In Dimmit County, we planted millet with a
suite of native grasses. The millet emerged quickly,1
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Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. South Texas Wildlife, Volume 25, Number 3, Fall 2021, periodical, Autumn 2021; Kingsville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1659856/m1/1/: accessed June 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.