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Inter- And Intra-Specific Interactions In Germination And Seedling Establishment Of Cheatgrass And Russian Wildrye, Erin K. Espeland
Inter- And Intra-Specific Interactions In Germination And Seedling Establishment Of Cheatgrass And Russian Wildrye, Erin K. Espeland
The Prairie Naturalist
Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is an invasive species in the arid and semi-arid west of the USA, and is weedy in disturbed prairie landscapes. Perennial Russian wildrye (Psathyrostachys juncea) limits population growth of cheatgrass, but the mechanism is unclear. I conducted glasshouse and greenhouse experiments to test if intra- and interspecific competitive interactions of seeds and seedlings of cheatgrass and Russian wildrye were different across a geographic soil gradient with different cultivation legacies in eastern Montana, USA. Seed-seed interactions occurred in both species. Cheatgrass and Russian wildrye inhibited one another’s emergence in one edaphic condition in one experiment. Cheatgrass growth was …