| The potential weed control benefits of ecological restoration are rarely cited and largely unstudied. Nevertheless, the nature of many restoration target communities, i.e., diverse, late-successional communities, suggests that restoration may control weeds and that the invasibility of plant communities may decrease with both diversity and successional age. Given the high cost of weed control in nonagricultural land, weed control benefits could be a strong incentive for restoration efforts. We examined the cumulative effects of restoration on weed populations 7 yr after tallgrass prairie restoration on a Minnesota sand plain. The numbers and biomass of volunteer weeds were compared among randomized plots with (1) no restoration, (2) prairie seed addition,... |
