DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tdz08kq65
title: Non-target woody plant responses to broadcast herbicide treatment for mesquite and pricklypear control

description: Aerial spraying of herbicides is an option for treating undesirable woody
 species on grasslands and rangelands, but few studies have determined the
 effects of these products on non-target woody plants important to
 wildlife. A recently introduced herbicide containing a mixture of
 clopyralid and aminopyralid (“CA”) is thought to be specific to honey
 mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) control. Our objective was to document the
 effects of CA alone and mixed with other brush herbicides, including
 picloram and triclopyr, on two target species, honey mesquite and
 pricklypear (Opuntia spp.), and two non-target woody plants, lotebush
 (Zizyphus obtusifolia) and hackberry (Celtis laevigata var reticulata).
 Treatments were 1) CA, 2) CA + triclopyr (CA+Tr), 3) CA + picloram
 (CA+Pc), and 4) clopyralid + triclopyr (Cp+Tr). We applied aerial spray
 treatments on four, 4-ha replicated plots of mature mesquite thickets that
 also contained pricklypear in each of 3 consecutive years in north-central
 Texas and evaluated plots at 1 year and 2 years post-treatment (YPT). We
 developed a tolerance-rating model with 5 levels (highly tolerant,
 tolerant, moderately tolerant, moderately susceptible, and susceptible)
 that integrated stand-level percent whole plant mortality (root-kill) and
 percent canopy reduction of surviving plants. Mesquite was susceptible to
 all treatments in all spray years. Pricklypear was susceptible to CA+Pc
 [root-kill more than doubled (33 to 84%) from 1 to 2 YPT], but highly
 tolerant of the other treatments. Lotebush was highly tolerant or tolerant
 of all treatments. Hackberry was tolerant of CA and Cp+Tr but susceptible
 to CA+Pc. The negative effect of CA+Pc on hackberry was greater when
 hackberry was drought-stressed. We recommend inspection of drought status,
 foliage condition, and abundance of non-target woody species prior to
 broadcast spraying for control of targeted woody species or cacti.
description: Title of Dataset: Non-target Woody Plant Responses to Broadcast Herbicide
 Treatment for Mesquite and Pricklypear Control ## Description of the data
 and file structure All data are presented in an Excel file. In addition,
 there is a pdf of supplemental tables and figures. In the Excel File
 labeled 'Data for Table 3': Column A lists the spray year; this
 is either 2013, 2014 or 2015. Column B lists the years post-treatment
 (YPT); this is either 1 year (1-YPT) or 2 year (2-YPT). Column C lists the
 herbicide treatment; these are '1-CA', '2-CA+Tr',
 '3-CA+Pc', or '4-Cp+Tr'. Column D lists the treatment
 replicate; this is either 1, 2, 3, or 4. Column E lists the study site;
 this is either '1-Vern' for Vernon, '2-Hamlin' or
 '3-Baird'. Column F lists the species evaluated; these are
 either '1-Mesq' for mesquite, '2-Pear' for pricklypear
 '3-Lote' for lotebush, or '4-Hack' for hackberry.
 Column G lists percent root-kill (values 0 to 100 %). Column H lists
 percent canopy reduction (values 0 to 100 %). Column I lists the tolerance
 rating (unitless values ranging from 0 to 100) Column J lists the code for
 all the abbreviations. ## Sharing/Access information Links to other
 publicly accessible locations of the data: N/A Data was derived from the
 following sources: All data except Figure 1 were collected in the field.
 Figure 1 precipitation data were obtained from the USA national weather
 service 'NOAA' site closest to the research site. The reference
 for this source is in the references section beginning with NOAA-NCEI. ##
 Code/Software N/A