Role of buttercups in the ecosystem

I have been allowing buttercups to grow in my yard, because they are a form of diversity.  I don't have a lot of other ranunculus.  I have read that buttercup's role is to go into compact, wet soils, build a bunch of organic matter below the surface, decompact the soil and improve drainage. Then it fails to dominate the area.  We have very wet soils in the winter and our natural soil is clay.  It can drown plants in the winter, so I thought buttercups would help.  When I explained that,  I was on another site and someone just said, "That's not true." I am not pretending to be the expert.  Should I actively kill it? Does anyone know more about it's role? I looked on this site and others and couldn't find the info.  
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

I don't know much about North American ranunculus species, but I am extrapolating from my European point of view.

1. If the buttercup is native, it serves the purpose of providing pollen and nectar to some butterflies and solitary bees.
2. About the soil restructuration, I am very sceptical. Yes, some plants with deep roots can make nutrients available that are down in deeper layers. And by doing that, they also do some breakup of the compacted soil. But it is not like a group of workers who set up their construction camp at a compacted soil site, improve it and leave as they are done.
Some people tell the same about horsetail (similar principle) or even slugs (enrichening "dead" soil with mucilages and similar).

However, if you observe certain mineral and soil structures and different plant communities you will not notice much change. The soil ingredients and the layers cannot be easily changed and some plants like horsetails prefer clay soils which have existed for millennia (I do not expect that the horsetails in my garden will be done in the near future, they have been growing since dinosaurs roamed this spot!).

So it is up to you if you want to leave some, all or try to weed them out if you need the space for planting other things. I would just not rely on them doing magic while they are growing - although a spot covered in plants ("weeds") is preferrable to barren, naked earth.

I am interested in your perspective.

It's not about whether horsetails or buttercups have existed for millions of years, but about their niche in the ecosystem. Horsetails really do have deep roots, and really are able to extract minerals like silica and calcium from the soil with their roots. Elaine Ingham has shown that there really are no soils with a lack of ability to get to nutrition overall.  It's about how to get the biology to develop the nutrition.  Horsetails will go into very wet areas with low nutrition, and make the minerals and nutrition available, so that later, larger plants with wider root systems can use that soil.  Afterwards, the larger plants will crowd out the horsetail gradually.

There are many other pioneer plants which make nitrogen available from the air, or perform other ecosystem functions.  

My question is, will buttercups do the same thing?

John S
PDX OR

We have a creeping buttercup variety. I'm not sure what you have where you are, but it is a nuisance in any area that I actually want to cultivate. It sends out meter + long runners that root every few inches and drop down new plants. You can't typically hand weed it without tools - the plant snaps, and leaves enough roots behind to get reestablished. Because of it's creeping habit it encroaches rapidly from any area where it is established.

It isn't a nuisance around trees and shrubs, but around any more delicate annuals it is problematic.

John Suavecito wrote:
There are many other pioneer plants which make nitrogen available from the air, or perform other ecosystem functions.  

My question is, will buttercups do the same thing?

Hi John,
I do not know any buttercup growing spots that are totally undisturbed here. They are abundant in fertile meadows that will get mowed regularly. They reappear year after year.

As far as I know, they are no nitrogen accumulators or fixers.

But yes, if it is native it does have an ecosystem function. Every native plant is part of the local foodweb. There is not one single plant that grows solitarily without being part of the surrounding ecosystem unless it is an introduced invasive.
Not sure if that answers your question?

I agree with you that it is not a nitrogen fixer.  That is one function in an ecosystem.  I have read that its job is to decompact the soil. It does create a lot of biomass in heavy wet clay soils with poor drainage.  That process could improve the drainage in heavy poorly drained soils.  I just read that it also doesn't thrive in well drained soils.  Then it would make sense that its job is to create a lot of biomass in a wet, heavy clay soil with poor drainage, but I haven't read that recently, so I"m not sure that decompacting the soil is really its function in the ecosystem.  I am trying to find out the useful function that it could provide in my ecosystem, or if I should try to kill it.  

John S
PDX OR

John Suavecito wrote: I just read that it also doesn't thrive in well drained soils.  Then it would make sense that its job is to create a lot of biomass in a wet, heavy clay soil with poor drainage, but I haven't read that recently, so I"m not sure that decompacting the soil is really its function in the ecosystem.  I am trying to find out the useful function that it could provide in my ecosystem, or if I should try to kill it.  

As someone with very well draining gravely loam soil, I can tell you that they do great in my well draining soils. They especially love growing in mulch, be it duck bedding (pine shavings + poop), wood chips, grass clippings, &/or compost. It's seriously amazing how quickly buttercup will take over my garden beds, how long it takes to weed it out (at least half an hour for a 3x3 garden bed), and how it keeps everything else from growing.

I wish I knew what their roll is, because I've read that bees don't really care for them, and they crowd out most of my other plants.

Mine are not very aggressive.  Much of my garden gets very dry in these summer months.  The buttercups stay in the shady areas where there is more moisture.  My wife also waters here strawberries above that area and moisture falls down into their area from that.  They are tempted into other areas in other parts of the year when there is less sun and more rain.

I think they might be there so children can shine the flower under each others' chins and ask if they like butter. That might be their ecological role.


John S
PDX OR

John Suavecito wrote:Mine are not very aggressive.

As is so often true, I'm a bit surprised just how many different types if Buttercups there are!

I found this article from England very interesting and its seems worth a read. https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/news/643/buttercups

A few of the highlights:
1. The toxin may be higher or lower in different varieties, and once the forb is dried, it is no longer toxic, so if it is present in dried cut hay, this article claims it is not a problem.

2. It is more likely a problem in over grazed or low cut grass land, so rotational grazing and high mowing will help discourage it.

3. "Improving soil structure can also help to reduce buttercups as the majority like wetter anaerobic conditions..." Doesn't that just sound like my goal of  increasing of the depth of my soil and its carbon content? However, it does seem to really like clay soil, and that's not going to miraculously change on my land!

This is a very interesting topic. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I've found the answer to the initial question, "what is its role?"

Here is a great article that lists Buttercup Benefits.

https://www.permacultureapartment.com/post/creeping-buttercup-benefits

Great info, people.  The different types of buttercups listed in Jay's article helps explain why Nicole can have them in well draining gravelly soil.  Mine are in the more traditional, very wet, poorly draining, acidic soil.  I figure I might as well keep some in the very wet, shaded area they are in.  Pollinators are people too, my friend.  Princess Buttercup says, "You don't need to kill all of the buttercups.  Especially me."
John S
PDX OR