Data from: Plant community response to switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) population source in establishing prairies

Ecological restoration and revegetation efforts entail the translocation of native plant populations. Risks associated with these efforts include failure of translocated populations to establish or, conversely, such strong establishment that they excessively dominate the recipient community. The role that selective breeding plays in mediating these risks is unclear but of increasing importance as efforts to restore and establish multifunctional grasslands also increase. In a three-year, spatially replicated study, we seeded experimental prairie communities with either domesticated (cultivar) or undomesticated strains of Panicum virgatum (switchgrass), a North American C4 species under development as a biomass crop. We evaluated the composition, performance, and diversity of the recipient plant communities and compared the performance of cultivar and undomesticated switchgrass in those communities. We found little evidence that switchgrass population source affected community response. Switchgrass cultivars modestly exceeded undomesticated strains with respect to stand establishment, third-year stand density, and aboveground biomass; effect size and significance differed among sites. Our results suggest that including cultivars in ecological restorations and multifunctional grasslands may enhance success of switchgrass establishment with little risk of impairing the composition or diversity of plant communities for up to three years, as reflected in the measures used here. However, the incorporation of undomesticated switchgrass into multifunctional grasslands may enhance landscape-scale genetic variation and mitigate risks associated with gene flow between translocated and local wild switchgrass populations; more research on these dynamics is needed.census of 3rd-year (2012) experimental prairie plant communitiesData file contains full censuses for 72 plots (1m x 1m) at each of 3 experimental sites in Minnesota, USA. Each plot was established in 2010 by sowing a standard restoration mix of grasses, forbs and legumes; each plot was then oversown with 1 of 12 strains of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Of the 12 strains, 6 were selectively-bred cultivars and 6 were undomesticated populations. The censuses were conducted at the end of the 3rd growing season, in 2012. See corresponding article (Flint, Jordan, Shaw) for detailsAllSiteCensus.txtComm_Biomass20123rd-year aboveground biomass values for experimental prairie plots that hosted either 1 of 6 switchgrass cultivars or 1 of 6 undomesticated switchgrass strains. Half of the replicate plots were harvested; the unharvested plots are indicated by having all "0" values.SwitchAbundEstabPersist_10_11_12Data of switchgrass censuses conducted in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years of experiment (2010, 2011, 2012; see Flint, Jordan & Shaw for details), at 4 evaluation sites in Minnesota USA. Switchgrass strains were either selectively bred cultivars (n=6) or undomesticated populations (n=6). See Flint, Jordan & Shaw for details on each of the 12 strains. Each experimental plot measured 1m x 1m and also contained an experimental prairie plant community established from a standard restoration seed mix containing grasses, forbs & legumes.Funding provided by: National Science FoundationCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001Award Number: DGE-065382