Effects of wood chip amendments on the revegetation performance of plant species on eroded marly terrains in a Mediterranean mountainous climate (Southern Alps, France)
The establishment of plant species can limit soil erosion dynamics
in degraded lands. In marly areas in the Southern French Alps, both harsh
water erosion and drought conditions in summer due to the Mediterranean
mountainous climate prevent the natural implementation and regeneration of
vegetation. Soil fertility improvement is sometimes necessary. With the
purpose of revegetating such areas, we aimed to evaluate the effects of wood
chip amendments on the revegetation performance of different native or
sub-spontaneous plant species. We conducted two experiments on steep slopes
over three growing seasons (2012–2014). The first consisted of planting
seedlings (10 species), and the second consisted of seeding (nine species
including six used in the first experiment). First we noted that wood chips
were able to remain in place even in steep slope conditions. The planting of
seedlings showed both an impact of wood chip amendment and differences
between species. A positive effect of wood chips was shown with overall
improvement of plant survival (increasing by 11 % on average, by up to
50 % for some species). In the seeding experiment, no plants survived
after three growing seasons. However, intermediate results for the first
and second years showed a positive effect of wood chips on seedling
emergence: seeds of four species only sprouted on wood chips, and for the
five other species the average emergence rate increased by 50 %
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