Document: AMA-3-64-18

Assessment of floristic quality after 13 years of restoration at the Mount St. John/Bergamo Prairie.

WISCHMEYER, A.L.* ^{1, 2}, L.M.JABLONSKI ^{1, 3}, D.R.CONOVER ^{1, 4} and D.R.GEIGER ^{1 2}

Marianist Environmental Education Center, Dayton, OH 45430-1095 USA ¹
University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469-2320 USA ²
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1293 USA ³
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0001 USA ⁴

Abstract:
Evaluation of prairie species establishment is being used to determine if management intervention is necessary on the Marianist Environmental Education Center prairie at Mount Saint John / Bergamo (Greene County, OH). Following highway construction in 1985, a 14-acre sand and gravel borrow pit remained amid fields and woods. A decision was made to plant tallgrass prairie species, since 1802 surveys revealed prairie and wetlands had been nearby. Restoration began from 1986-88 with 52 species, 82% of these being native to tallgrass prairie. Burning has occurred every 3 years, and more than 167 additional native and nonnative species have volunteered or been hand-transplanted. Along the gradient of soil nutrients and moisture from the upland tallgrass to the water table pond at the base, many microhabitats have formed. Complete species lists were compiled in 1988, 1995, and 1999. From these, plant community traits of total number of species, species diversity, and native species composition have been analyzed. Vegetation quality of the prairie was determined using the floristic quality index. This method incorporates species richness and the coefficient of conservatism of native prairie species. After 13 years, 79% of the species are native, and 13 of these are on the Ohio Rare Plant List. The largest increases in species diversity since establishment have been 30% in native forbs, 25% in native shrubs and 20% in native sedges. Native grasses have remained constant at eight species. Over 23 wetland indicator species have established by the pond. Alien species have entered at a slower rate than native members of the equivalent functional group. In all, 22 alien forbs, three alien grasses, one alien vine and one alien shrub have volunteered on the site since its inception. The mean coefficient of conservatism of the entire restoration is 4.3, which signifies that the vegetation is comprised mainly of high quality, native prairie species. The floristic quality index when the prairie established in 1988 was 35.2 and by 1999 it had increased to 41.6. The increase in overall floristic quality suggests that the restoration is progressing towards a mature diverse prairie.

Keywords: prairie restoration, floristic quality, restoration ecology, Ohio prairie

This abstract is being presented at: 10:30 AM in session:
RESTORATION ECOLOGY AND INVASIONS