Post-Planting Maintenance of Early-Stage Reconstructed Prairies within Urban Parks of Illinois

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorWeiss, Molly N.en
dc.contributor.authorDerr, Jeffrey F.en
dc.contributor.authorBarney, Jacob N.en
dc.contributor.authorFox, Laurie J.en
dc.contributor.committeechairDerr, Jeffrey F.en
dc.contributor.committeememberBarney, Jacob N.en
dc.contributor.committeememberFox, Laurie J.en
dc.contributor.departmentHampton Roads ARECen
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-27T13:32:29Zen
dc.date.available2022-12-27T13:32:29Zen
dc.date.issued2022-12-13en
dc.description.abstractTallgrass prairies are diverse ecosystems spread across the Midwest. Due to human activities such as farming and urban development, these prairies are now rare in their authentic form. The focus of this study is on the tallgrass prairies of Southwest Illinois. Prairie conservation efforts have engaged in various reconstruction projects, aiming to encourage and reestablish lost tallgrass prairie ecosystems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of post-planting maintenance methods on coverage and biodiversity of native and invasive species within early-stage reconstructed tallgrass prairies in urban parks of southern Illinois. Evaluated variables included: total and individual species cover, plant type category, plant classification, species diversity, and community evenness in relation to management methods of annual mowing, manual weeding, and biannual prescribed burning. Results show total percent cover by management method is nonsignificant, but cover by plant type category revealed forb and grass cover to be significant for manually weeded beds in comparison to biannually burned and annually mowed beds. Similarly, manually weeded beds promoted the highest cover by planted native species whereas cover by invasive species was highest within annually mowed treatment beds. In conclusion, results suggest future promotion of grass species across all observed prairie systems due to their lack of presence in relation to native forbs. Manual weeding was most influential on native species flourishment, and in combating invasive species in relation to other treatments. Although, manual weeding is not always efficient and successful alone as a maintenance practice, therefore the use of long-term adaptive techniques is recommended.en
dc.description.degreeMALSen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/113000en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subject.cabtconservationen
dc.subject.cabtgrasslanden
dc.subject.cabtprescribed burnen
dc.subject.cabtreconstructionen
dc.subject.cabttallgrass prairieen
dc.titlePost-Planting Maintenance of Early-Stage Reconstructed Prairies within Urban Parks of Illinoisen
dc.typeReporten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplinePlant Science and Pest Managementen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Agricultural and Life Sciencesen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Thumbnail Image
Name:
MWeiss_VT_OMALS_PresentationFall2022.pdf
Size:
9.31 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Final Presentation
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
MWeiss_VT_OMALS_FinalPaper2022.pdf
Size:
639.62 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Report
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.5 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Online Master of Agricultural and Life Sciences