Assessing factors mediating restoration outcomes of herbicide followed by native reseeding in invaded tallgrass prairies
Research Advisor: Dr. James Miller
Tallgrass prairie that remains in the eastern Great plains tends to be highly fragmented, increasing edge-to-area ratios and susceptibility to exotic grass invasion. Invasive plants are commonly controlled using herbicide followed by seeding native species to restore native plants. However, little research exists evaluating how the outcomes of these methods may be mediated in invaded tallgrass prairies by factors such as time-since-seeding, grazing, landscape features, or topographical variation. Therefore, I evaluated restoration outcomes in tallgrass prairies invaded by tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) in Iowa and Missouri between 2011 and 2021. I assessed how grazing and time-since=seeding influenced herbaceous plant communities restored with herbicide followed by native seeding influenced herbaceous plant communities restored with herbicide followed by native seeding and how closely these restorations reflected high-diversity prairie remnants. I also related the post-treatment cover of invasive tall fescue and native warm-season grasses to proximity-to-edges and topography.
Meeting ID: 897 9944 4485 Password: Prairie
