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Sandhill Restoration Studies and Experimental Introduction of Ziziphus celata at Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge FINAL REPORT Eric S. Menges Carl W. Weekley Gretel L. Clarke 2008 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 620 South Meridian Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600 Sandhill Restoration Studies and Experimental Introduction of Ziziphus celata at Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge Eric S. Menges Carl W. Weekley Gretel L. Clarke Archbold Biological Station P.O. Box 2057 Lake Placid, FL 33862 Submitted as final report for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Project NG02-002 2008 This report is the result of a project supported by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund. It has been reviewed for clarity, style, and typographical errors, but has not received peer review. Any opinions or recommendations in this report are those of the authors and do not represent policy of the Commission. Suggested citation: Menges, E. S., C. W. Weekley, and G. L. Clarke. 2008. Sandhill restoration studies and experimental introduction of Ziziphus celata at Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge. Final report. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Available from <http://research.myfwc.com/publications/>. This Agency does not allow discrimination by race, color, nationality, sex, or handicap. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity or facility of this agency, write to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 620 S. Meridian St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600, or to Office for Human Relations, USFWS, Dept. of Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. Sandhill Restoration Studies and Experimental Introduction of Ziziphus celata at Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge Eric S. Menges Carl W. Weekley Gretel L. Clarke Archbold Biological Station, P.O. Box 2057, Lake Placid, FL 33862 Abstract: Restoration of degraded habitat and recovery of imperiled species are 2 of the main challenges facing land managers in Florida. To investigate the restoration dynamics of a long-unburned Lake Wales Ridge sandhill, we compared the effects of prescribed fire with (saw-and-burn treatment) and without (burn- only treatment) prior felling of the oak subcanopy to an untreated control in a 7-year study. Restoration goals included retaining canopy pines, reducing subcanopy and shrub layers, creating more bare sand, increasing herb diversity and abundance, and maintaining rare species populations. We collected data on sandhill community responses, performance of a population of the narrowly endemic Florida ziziphus (Ziziphus celata) introduced after treatments, and demography of 2 endemic plants, scrub buckwheat (Eriogonum longifolium var. gnaphalifolium) and scrub plum (Prunus geniculata). Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) survival was lowest in the saw-and-burn treatment, intermediate in burn-only, and highest in the control. Survival increased with distance from the center of the enhanced fuel zone of the saw-and-burn treatment. The oak subcanopy was eliminated by the saw-and-burn treatment and reduced with burn-only. Shrub stem densities decreased temporarily, but then increased in both burn treatments. Both treatments (but especially saw-and-burn) increased bare sand, but had limited effects on herbaceous plants and graminoids. Although the treatments altered the structure of the sandhill community, species composition was not dramatically changed. Five years post-introduction, Florida ziziphus transplant survival was greater than 75%. Contrary to expectation, transplant survival was greater in the control than in the saw-and-burn treatment. Introduced plants have not grown since the introduction. Florida ziziphus seed germination was less than 5% and seedling survival less than 10%. Scrub buckwheat responded positively to the burn treatments, with high survival in all treatments and increased initial growth, flowering, and seedling recruitment in the burn-only and, especially, the saw-and-burn treatments. Likewise, scrub plum had high survival in all treatments, although severely burned, fire-consumed plants were more likely to die. Fire benefits scrub plum by increasing flowering 2–3 years after fire. The results of our 7-year study of the restoration dynamics of a long-unburned Lake Wales Ridge sandhill indicate that chainsaw felling of the subcanopy can be useful as a preburn treatment to increase fire coverage, and is beneficial in increasing bare sand and favoring demographic responses of some species. However, high fire intensities in areas with felled fuels can result in higher longleaf pine mortality. Florida ziziphus transplants into postburn sites were hampered by rapid shrub resprouting in the saw-and-burn treatment. The saw-and-burn pre-treatment can be useful in “speeding up” restoration, but care should be taken to avoid high fire intensities, especially near longleaf pines. The ultimate goal of sandhill restoration should be the return of a frequent low-intensity fire regime. iii FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION FINAL REPORT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We gratefully acknowledge the various contributions of the following individuals: Kim Adams, Mandy Brothers, Laura Calabrese, Martha Ellis, Orou Gaoue, April Hansgate, Betsey Hermanson, Becky Hewitt, Sarah Hicks, Tracy Hmielowski, Tania Kim, Heather Lindon, Molly Mathias, David Matlaga, Courtney McCusker, Dorothy Mundell, Jennifer Navarra, Steph Neimeister, Ian Pfingstein, Beth Richards, Marcia Rickey, Sonali Saha, Jenny Schafer, Theresa Strazisar, Katie Stuble, Matt Trager, Hadiya White, David Zaya, and Robin Zinthefer. Pedro Quintana-Ascencio and Marcia Rickey provided valuable assistance on data analysis. We thank Fred Adrian and Dorn Whitmore of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Adam Peterson and Steve Morrison from The Nature Conservancy, and their respective staffs for the management treatments that made our research possible. We also thank Dorothy Brazis and Kay Maddox of Historic Bok Sanctuary for assistance in the Florida ziziphus introduction. The report was improved by the comments of one anonymous reviewer and the editorial assistance of Cavell Kyser. Finally, we thank the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund for financial support. iv SANDHILL RESTORATION—Menges et al. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iv INTRODUCTION . 1 The Problem: Sandhill Restoration and Listed Species Recovery. 1 Relevance of Project to Nongame Conservation . 2 Previous Work. 2 Project Objectives. 5 METHODS . 7 Study Site and Treatments . 7 The Sandhill Community . 10 Florida Ziziphus Introduction. 14 Scrub Buckwheat Demography . 15 Scrub Plum Demography . 16 RESULTS . 18 Sandhill Community Dynamics . 18 Florida Ziziphus Introduction. 34 Scrub Buckwheat Demography . 39 Scrub Plum Demography . 43 DISCUSSION . 50 Sandhill Restoration . 50 Florida Ziziphus Introduction. 51 Scrub Buckwheat Demography . 53 Scrub Plum Demography . 55 MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 56 LITERATURE CITED . 59 Appendix A. Species list . 66 v SANDHILL RESTORATION—Menges et al. 1 INTRODUCTION The Problem: Sandhill Restoration and Listed Species Recovery Longleaf-pine (Pinus palustris)-wiregrass (Aristida stricta var. beyrichiana) ecosystems were once predominant across the southeastern United States, supporting hundreds of rare and endemic species (Hardin and White 1989, Sorrie and Weakley 2006) and exceptionally high ground-layer species diversity (Kirkman et al. 2001, 2004). (See Appendix A for scientific names of species mentioned in this report.) These ecosystems, including xeric sandhills, have undergone a catastrophic decline over the past 150 years due to logging, conversion to other uses, and fire suppression, with less than 5% of their original acreage remaining (Platt 1999, Outcalt and Sheffield 1996, Van Lear et al. 2005). Old-growth longleaf pine stands are even rarer (Varner and Kush 2004). Restoration of these ecosystems has been an important conservation goal for many years (Outcalt et al. 1999, Mulligan et al. 2002). On Florida’s Lake Wales Ridge, sandhill ecosystems have a larger shrub component and fewer species than more northern sandhills (Abrahamson et al. 1984) and, like their northern counterparts, have been largely converted to other uses. The few hundred acres of remaining sandhill on the Lake Wales Ridge are generally degraded due to a history of logging, fragmentation, and fire-suppression (Peroni and Abrahamson 1986). Lake Wales Ridge sandhills provide habitat for dozens of state or federally listed species (Enge 1995). These include the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) and its many commensal invertebrates and reptiles (Schwartz and Karl 2005). In addition, over a dozen federally listed endemic plants preferentially or frequently occur in Ridge sandhills. Sandhill restoration projects must consider the needs of individual species as well as ecosystem structure and function. One species that depends on sandhill ecosystems is Florida ziziphus (Ziziphus celata), one of the most highly endangered plants in Florida. Known from only a dozen sites in Polk and Highlands counties, most populations occur in privately owned pastures that were formerly sandhill (Weekley et al. 1999). Loss and fragmentation of habitat have resulted in genetically depauperate populations incapable of sexual reproduction (Weekley et al. 2002). Recovery of Florida ziziphus requires the establishment