Effects of Soil Disturbance on Success of a Rare ...

1 downloads 0 Views 6MB Size Report
Nathan would like to thank Andrew Blackburn, Renee Euler, and Clayton Wooldridge for field assistance. Hira Walker ... Batavia, Illinois, p. 20-30. In: C. Warwick ...
Am. Midi. NaL (2012) 168:396-^07

Effects of Soil Disturbance on Success of a Rare Savanna Forb, Liatris scariosa var. nieuwlandii in Habitats Dominated by Early and Late Successional Grasses NATHAN C. S C H R O E D E R ' Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sdences, 801 South Wright Street, University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, Champaign 61820

TIMOTHYJ. BELL Department of Biological Sdences, Chicago State University, 9501 South King Drive, Ghicago, Illinois 60628 AND

MARLIN L. BOWLES The Morton Arboretum, 4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle, Illinois 60532 ABSTRACT.—In tallgrass prairie restoration, dominance by competitive late succession prairie grasses may cause loss of species that are poor compedtors. In a field experiment we tested whether disturbance could reverse this process for Liatris scariosa var. nieuwlandii, a threatened savanna species thought to be a poor competitor. At our study site, this species appears to be stable in vegetation dominated by Danthonia spicata, an early successional grass, but declining in the presence of Andropogon gerardii, a dominant prairie grass restored to the study area. We used correlation analysis to test whether cover of grasses affected L. s. nieuwlandii abundance and expedmental disturbance to test whether compedtion could be reduced. We disturbed soil at small (

Suggest Documents