Interactions between European buckthorn (Rhamnus carhartica) and invasive earthworms in the forests of Chicago, Illinois, are an elegant example of the potential implications of adopting a perspective based on alternative stable states, strong feedbacks, and resilience theory in urban ecological restoration (Heneghan et al. 2002, 2004, 2006). Buckthorn is a major invasive plant pest in the Chicago area, forming dense thickets that exclude native plants. In ongoing work to study the buckthorn invasion and restore affected woodlands, researchers noticed a convergence of high invasive earthworm biomass in buckthorn patches (Heneghan et al. 2006). Experimental work has identified a link between the nitrogen (N)-rich buckthorn litter and earthworms that has led to a synergistic invasional “meltdown,” (Simberloff & Von Holle 1999), where each species facilitates the invasion by the other. Under the lens of resilience theory, it is the growth and buildup of the N-rich litter and N-rich soils that triggers the release—an increase in earthworm biomass, which can reinforce the alternative stable state (of buckthorn stands) by processing the surface litter layer and changing soil conditions in a way that favors the buckthorn (Fig. 2B; Heneghan et al. 2006). A resilience-based understanding of this system shifts the restoration strategy away from simple buckthorn removal (which allows for earthworms to persist and the maintenance of soil conditions, which in turn allows the reinvasion by buckthorn) to one that focuses on increasing the resilience of the system by either reducing earthworm populations or altering the soil conditions created by the earthworms to move the system away from the stable state that reinforces buckthorn dominance
Interactions between European buckthorn (Rhamnus carhartica) and invasive earthworms in the forests of Chicago, Illinois, are an elegant example of the potential implications of adopting a perspective based on alternative stable states, strong feedbacks, and resilience theory in urban ecological restoration (Heneghan et al. 2002, 2004, 2006). Buckthorn is a major invasive plant pest in the Chicago area, forming dense thickets that exclude native plants. In ongoing work to study the buckthorn invasion and restore affected woodlands, researchers noticed a convergence of high invasive earthworm biomass in buckthorn patches (Heneghan et al. 2006). Experimental work has identified a link between the nitrogen (N)-rich buckthorn litter and earthworms that has led to a synergistic invasional “meltdown,” (Simberloff & Von Holle 1999), where each species facilitates the invasion by the other. Under the lens of resilience theory, it is the growth and buildup of the N-rich litter and N-rich soils that triggers the release—an increase in earthworm biomass, which can reinforce the alternative stable state (of buckthorn stands) by processing the surface litter layer and changing soil conditions in a way that favors the buckthorn (Fig. 2B; Heneghan et al. 2006). A resilience-based understanding of this system shifts the restoration strategy away from simple buckthorn removal (which allows for earthworms to persist and the maintenance of soil conditions, which in turn allows the reinvasion by buckthorn) to one that focuses on increasing the resilience of the system by either reducing earthworm populations or altering the soil conditions created by the earthworms to move the system away from the stable state that reinforces buckthorn dominance
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