Tallgrass prairie restorationsHow are restorations affected by climate, particularly at the beginning of a restoration when germinating plants are most susceptible to climatic extremes such as drought?
We have found that initial precipitation can alter the trajectory of plant communities, with community composition of grasslands restored in drought and average/wet years moving in a similar trajectory, but remaining separate (Figure 1). These differences were primarily caused by an increase in forbs in prairie restored in a drought year. Initial differences in community composition and grass:forb ratios persist for a decade, indicating initial year climate can cause large historical contingencies in restorations. |
Methods
Site
Agriculture field converted to tallgrass prairie with same methods (seed mix, percent live seed of each species, timing of restoration, hand broadcast seed) every other year beginning in 2010 Each sequence of restoration contains four independent plots Long-term Measurements
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