Floristic and Soil Organic Matter Changes after Five and Thirty-Five Years of Native Tallgrass Prairie Restoration

Kindscher, Kelly; Tieszen, Larry L.

doi:10.1046/j.1526-100x.1998.06210.x

Cited by 150 publications

(104 citation statements)

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“…The depletion in 13 C with depth (below 35 cm) was unexpected. Depletion with depth has been reported for two other grassland communities on the Great Plains (Kindscher and Tieszen, 1998;Collins et al, 1999).…”

Section: Hypotheses For 13 C Depletion With Depthmentioning

confidence: 82%

Utility of 13C for ecosystem carbon turnover estimation in grazed mixed grass prairie

2004

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Section: Hypotheses For 13 C Depletion With Depthmentioning

confidence: 82%

Utility of 13C for ecosystem carbon turnover estimation in grazed mixed grass prairie

2004

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“…Thus, at the onset of a grassland restoration in formerly cultivated soils, the availability and spatial distribution of resources may not be representative of uncultivated (native) prairie. The re-introduction of native grasses into long-term cultivated soil is often successful (Schramm 1970(Schramm , 1990Baer et al 2002), but the establishment of the less common forb species, critical to the biodiversity of most grasslands, is often inadequate (Clarke and Bragg 1994;Kindscher and Tieszen 1998) and these species are vulnerable to local extinction (Howe 1999). Understanding the relationship between resource availability and heterogeneity and community recovery during grassland restoration may be key to successfully restoring biodiversity in this and other species-rich ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant community responses to resource availability and heterogeneity during restoration

et al. 2004

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Availability and heterogeneity of resources have a strong influence on plant community structure in undisturbed systems, as well as those recovering from disturbance. Less is known about the role of resource availability and heterogeneity in restored communities, although restoration provides a valuable opportunity to test our understanding of factors that influence plant community assembly. We altered soil nitrogen (N) availability and soil depth during a prairie restoration to determine if the availability and/or heterogeneity of soil resources influenced plant community composition in restored grassland communities. Plant community responses to three levels of N availability (ambient, enriched by fertilization, and reduced by carbon amendment) and two levels of soil depth (deep and shallow) were evaluated. In addition, we evaluated plant community responses to four whole plot heterogeneity treatments created from the six possible combinations of soil N availability and soil depth. The soil depth treatment had little influence on community structure during the first 3 years of restoration. Total diversity and richness declined over time under annual N enrichment, whereas diversity was maintained and richness increased over time in soil with reduced N availability. Non-native species establishment was lowest in reduced-N soil in the initial year, but their presence was negligible in all of the soil N treatments by the second year of restoration. Panicum virgatum, a native perennial C(4) grass, was the dominant species in all soil N treatments by year three, but the magnitude of its dominance was lowest in the reduced-N soil and highest in enriched-N soil. Consequently, the relative cover of P. virgatum was strongly correlated with community dominance and inversely related to diversity. The differential growth response of P. virgatum to soil N availability led to a higher degree of community similarity to native prairie in the reduced-N treatment than in the enriched-N treatment. There were no differences in plant community structure among the four whole plot-level heterogeneity treatments, which all exhibited the same degree of similarity to native prairie. Diversity and community heterogeneity in the whole-plot treatments appeared to be regulated by the dominant species' effect on light availability, rather than soil N heterogeneity per se. Our results indicate that a strong differential response of a dominant species to resource availability in a restored community can regulate community structure, diversity, and similarity to the native (or target) community, but the importance of resource heterogeneity in restoring diversity may be dampened in systems where a dominant species can successfully establish across a range of resource availability.

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“…C sequestration) in relation to the aboveground vegetation composition, age, or management intensity (Baer et al, 2002;Brye et al, 2002b;Camill et al, 2004). Often, species diversity and frequency in prairie remnants are used as a measuring stick to judge whether a 'complete' recovery has taken place in restoration efforts (Kindscher & Tieszen, 1998;Allison, 2002;Camill et al, 2004). As Camill et al (2004) discuss, the few reported studies of 'complete' restorations focus on diversity changes through time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A paired study of prairie carbon stocks, fluxes, and phenology: comparing the world's oldest prairie restoration with an adjacent remnant

Kucharik

Fayram

Nicholas

2006

Global Change Biology

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We measured carbon (C) stocks and fluxes and vegetation phenology in the world's oldest prairie restoration ( $ 65 years) and an adjacent prairie remnant in southern Wisconsin from 2001-2004 to quantify structural and functional differences. While the species distributions and frequency differed, the number of species measured per 1 m 2 quadrat were not significantly different (15.8 AE 4.4 and 14.1 AE 2.1 for remnant and planted [order for all reported values in abstract]; P 5 0.29), and the annual average aboveground net primary productivity (271 AE 51 and 330 AE 55 g C m À2 ) and peak leaf area index (2.9-4.9 m 2 m À2 ) were comparable under similar fire management. Total root biomass was not significantly different in 2002 (1736 AE 1062 and 1690 AE 459 g dry matter m À2 ) or 2003 (3029 AE 2081 and 2146 AE 898 g m À2 ), but annual average soil respiration (1229 AE 77 and 1428 AE 24 g C m À2 yr À1 ) was significantly higher in the restoration (Po0.0001). However, the prairie remnant contained 37% greater soil C (Po0.0001) in the top 25 cm. Soil respiration response to 10 cm soil temperature (Q 10 ) varied with respect to prairie and soil moisture conditions as annual Q 10 values ranged from 2.5 to 3.6. We calculated a range of net ecosystem production (NEP) values using estimated heterotrophic respiration and three root turnover values. Average NEP varied from À1.4 to 1.9 and À2.3 to 1.3 Mg C ha À1 yr À1 for the remnant and planted prairies, respectively. While these two prairies share similar structural components and functional attributes, the large uncertainty in NEP casts doubt as to whether we can verify these prairies as C sources or sinks without direct measures of heterotrophic respiration and root turnover. We argue that quantitative studies of C exchange in prairies, which differ in restoration methodology, management intensity, and fire frequency, are needed to solidify the relationship between prairie structure and potentially desired functions such as C sequestration.

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Floristic and Soil Organic Matter Changes after Five and Thirty-Five Years of Native Tallgrass Prairie Restoration

Cited by 150 publications

References 0 publications

Utility of 13C for ecosystem carbon turnover estimation in grazed mixed grass prairie

Utility of 13C for ecosystem carbon turnover estimation in grazed mixed grass prairie

Plant community responses to resource availability and heterogeneity during restoration

A paired study of prairie carbon stocks, fluxes, and phenology: comparing the world's oldest prairie restoration with an adjacent remnant

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