Twenty Years of Tallgrass Prairie Reconstruction and Restoration at Pawnee Prairie Natural Area, Missouri

摘要: In 1996 the Missouri Department of Conservation purchased Pawnee Prairie, a 190-ha mix remnant tallgrass prairie and formerly row-cropped with varying degrees Festuca arundinacea invasion past cattle grazing intensities on rolling terrain in central dissected till plains ecological section. Management actions implemented over following 20 y included prescribed fire, herbicide treatments invasive nonnative species, seeding local ecotype seed. Concurrently, four vegetation monitoring transects were sampled for plant species composition cover five times between 2017. Each increased significantly time per-quadrat means: % native cover, conservatism, cover-weighted conservatism. At site level, grasses by 22%, declined 76%, forbs 91%, 94%, sedges 37%. top importance value across all weedy (e.g., Dicanthelium lanuginosum) Daucus carota). By 2017 had transitioned to characteristic Schizachyrium scoparium). Ordination results documented compositional trends toward greater richness, conservatism values. sustained reconstruction restoration practices applied an area differing land use histories resulted significant gains natural quality site's vegetation, including abundance flora matrix some conservative species.