Lack of native species recovery following severe exotic disturbance in southern Californian shrublands

Abstract

Summary: 1. Urban and agricultural activities are not part of natural disturbance regimes and may bear little resemblance to them. Such disturbances are common in densely populated semi‐arid shrub communities of the south‐western US, yet successional studies in these regions have been limited primarily to natural successional change and the impact of human‐induced changes on natural disturbance regimes. Although these communities are resilient to recurrent and large‐scale disturbance by fire, they are not necessarily well‐adapted to recover from exotic disturbances. 2. This study investigated the effects of severe exotic disturbance (construction, heavy‐vehicle activity, landfill operations, soil excavation and tillage) on shrub communities in southern California. These disturbances led to the conversion of indigenous shrublands to exotic annual communities with low native species richness. 3. Nearly 60% of the cover on disturbed sites consisted of exotic annual species, while undisturbed sites were primarily covered by native shrub species (68%). Annual species dominant on disturbed sites included Erodium botrys, Hypochaeris glabra, Bromus spp., Vulpia myuros and Avena spp. 4. The cover of native species remained low on disturbed sites even 71 years after initial exotic disturbance ceased. Native shrub seedlings were also very infrequent on disturbed sites, despite the presence of nearby seed sources. Only two native shrubs, Eriogonum fasciculatum and Baccharis sarothroides, colonized some disturbed sites in large numbers. 5. Although some disturbed sites had lower total soil nitrogen and percentage organic matter and higher pH than undisturbed sites, soil variables measured in this study were not sufficient to explain variations in species abundances on these sites. 6. Non‐native annual communities observed in this study did not recover to a predisturbed state within typical successional time (< 25 years), supporting the hypothesis that altered stable states can occur if a community is pushed beyond its threshold of resilience.