Seeding season and mowing affect native plant community development on reclaimed aspen parkland

Land use intensification and rising production inputs continue to negatively affect many ecosystem services with significant challenges to restore these ecosystem services in the disturbed landscape. Using native species to revegetate disturbed ecosystems continues to gain momentum. An understanding of the role of seeding season and mowing in native plant community development is required to improve reclamation success. Research using 20 native grasses and forbs was conducted to determine how seeding season (fall, spring) and mowing (mowed, unmowed) influenced revegetation of grassland reclamation sites in Alberta, Canada. Species density, biovolume, richness and ground cover were assessed over two growing seasons. Density, biovolume and species richness of seeded grasses and forbs were generally higher in spring than fall seeded treatments, whereas non-seeded grasses and forbs were lower in spring seeded treatments. During the first growing season, mowing increased seeded species density and biovolume and decreased non-seeded species biovolume, with no effect on seeded species in the second growing season. Mowing and fall seeding decreased bare ground in the second growing season. The outcomes of this study suggest grasses and forbs were more successful when spring seeded versus fall seeded, and beyond the first growing season the influence of mowing was negligible.