PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #13: Restoration Ecology.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
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Wet prairie vegetation and soil development on the Mount Saint John (MEEC) prairie restoration.
Wischmeyer, Amanda 1,2, Geiger, Donald 1,2, Jablonski, Leanne1, 1 2
ABSTRACT- The Mount Saint John tallgrass prairie in Greene County, Ohio has differentiated into distinct vegetation zones in the15 years following uniform seeding of the 14-acre sand and gravel borrow pit. The greatest vegetation establishment (cover, canopy, and presence of conservative prairie species) surrounds hillside seeps. We investigated the role of wet prairie areas in vegetation establishment and soil development. Four seep areas were identified from aerial photographs taken at the time of restoration initiation. The vegetation and soil was characterized within three distinct zones that surround each seep: Core zones are characterized by 30% soil moisture (SM), 80-100% moss cover and mean Salix canopy height of 1.6m. The intermediate zones (21%SM) are delineated by the bulrush, Juncus dudleyi and herbaceous canopy of 0.76m. An outer zone represents the dry prairie (17% SM) that predominates throughout the remaining prairie. Zones were sampled for soil depth, edaphic factors, and vegetation composition, height and diversity. Soil and vegetation development has followed the moisture gradient. Obvious organic enrichment was found to a mean depth of 8.8cm in core areas and 5.7cm in the dry prairie. Average plant species richness is 29 in core areas, 19 in intermediate zones and 17 in dry prairie. Ground-water flow of nutrients in seep areas appears to provide an important condition for soil development and moisture retention and thus accelerate prairie succession processes.
KEY WORDS: restoration, soil development, succession, wet prairie