Restoring South African subtropical succulent thicket using Portulacaria afra: exploring the rooting window hypothesis.

ABSTRACT: Drought prone, arid and semi-arid ecosystems are challenging to restore once degraded due to low levels of natural recruitment and survival of reintroduced plants. This is evident in the restoration of degraded succulent thicket habitats in the Albany Subtropical Thicket Biome located in South Africa. The current restoration practice for this ecosystem focuses predominantly on reintroducing Portulacaria afra L. Jacq., which is naturally dominant in terms of cover and biomass, but largely absent in regions degraded by domestic livestock. This has been achieved by planting unrooted cuttings with limited consideration of soil water availability in a drought-prone ecosystem. This study tests the effects of the timing of water availability after planting on the root development of P.

SUBMITTER: Galuszynski NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10437031 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature