Germination and early establishment of dryland grasses and shrubs on intact and wind-eroded soils under greenhouse conditions

Abstract Aims Grassland-to-shrubland transition is a common form of land degradation in drylands worldwide. It often attributed to changes disturbance regimes, particularly overgrazing. A myriad direct and indirect effects (e.g., accelerated soil erosion) grazing may favor shrubs over grasses, but their relative importance unclear. We tested the hypothesis that topsoil “winnowing” by wind erosion would differentially affect grass shrub seedling establishment promote recruitment grass. Methods monitored germination growth contrasting perennial ( Bouteloua eriopoda , Sporobolus airoides Aristida purpurea ) Prosopis glandulosa Atriplex canescens Larrea tridentata functional groups on field-collected non-winnowed winnowed soils under well-watered greenhouse conditions. Results Non-winnowed were finer-textured had higher nutrient contents than soils, based desorption curves, more plant-available moisture. Contrary expectations, seed comparable within given species. The N 2 -fixing deciduous P. was first emerge complete germination, greatest biomass accumulation all Conclusions Germination early grasses not adversely nor affected comparing with observed Early rapid give competitive advantage other species at stage grazed grasslands. Field experiments are needed confirm our findings these controlled environment trials.