Assessing the Past

Abstract

The introduction and spread of invasive plants has been consistently linked to the development of agricultural crops such as cereal grains, legumes, and forage grasses. This is because cultivating a crop involves both soil disturbance (e.g., plowing and har- rowing) and the introduction of plant species, both the in- tended crop and unintended contaminants that accompany crop seed.1 Cultivation is also consistently linked with the creation of land-use legacies, which continue to impact eco- system structure and function for long periods of time follow- ing human utilization of resources. These land-use legacies can alter soils, hydrology, and plant communities in ways that persist for decades, centuries, and even millennia.2,3 A com- mon legacy of cultivation is invasive plant species dominance, causing the site to remain “stuck” in a state of arrested succes- sion with early-seral weedy species dominating for decades.

DOI: 10.2458/azu_rangelands_v34i6_morris