General Theme: The labs will be an investigation of vascular plant diversity in southen Illinois grasslands. We will visit a number of grasslands, listed below. You will design a sampling regime to investigate patterns of biodiversity among these sites. Before deciding on how to sample you should ask yourselves these questions:
Additional points to consider:
You should bring to each lab: Paper and writing materials.
I'll provide: Quadrat frames, meter sticks, tape measures.
Required reading: Become familiar with these articles before the first lab.
Collins, S.L., Glenn, S.M., & Gibson, D.J. 1995. Experimental analysis of intermediate disturbance and initial floristic composition: decoupling cause and effect. Ecology 76:486-492. Gibson, D.J. (2008: in preparation). Community Ecology, Chapter 6 in Grasses and Grassland Ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. (Available at: http://www.science.siu.edu/plant-biology/Faculty/Gibson/grassbk/index.html). Stevens, M.H.H. & Carson, W.P. 1999. The significance of assemblage-level thinning for species richness. Journal of Ecology 87: 490-502
Collins, S.L., Glenn, S.M., & Gibson, D.J. 1995. Experimental analysis of intermediate disturbance and initial floristic composition: decoupling cause and effect. Ecology 76:486-492.
Gibson, D.J. (2008: in preparation). Community Ecology, Chapter 6 in Grasses and Grassland Ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. (Available at: http://www.science.siu.edu/plant-biology/Faculty/Gibson/grassbk/index.html).
Stevens, M.H.H. & Carson, W.P. 1999. The significance of assemblage-level thinning for species richness. Journal of Ecology 87: 490-502
Evaluation: This is a group project. You will work in assigned groups throughout the semester on this project. At the end of the semester each group will make an oral presentation and turn in a written report. The presentation will last no more than 15 minutes and will be graded for completeness, clarity, and organization. Your group's written report should be in the style of a manuscript to be submitted to the Journal of Ecology. Follow the instructions to authors for style and format.
Sites:
Brown Barrens: Brown Barrens Nature Preserve and McClure School Shale Glade in Union County are classified by Heikens & Robertson (1994) as Shale Natural Forest Openings because their soils, in the Stookey-Alford-Muren Association, overly shale. Soils are thin, poor, contain little moisture, and few nutrients (McFall 1991). As a result, the herbaceous flora is depauperate and the trees are stunted. Nevertheless, Ely & Gibson (1998) listed 244 taxa from Brown Barrens and 223 from McClure School Shale Glade. Prescribed burning has been used as a management tool at Brown Barren since 1993 reversing the trend for woody species encroachment and leading to a return of more xeric, grassland species (e.g., Danthonia spicata (poverty grass), Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem) and Muhlenbergia capillaris (Muhly) (Ely, 2001; Ely & Gibson, 1998; McCall & Gibson, 1999).
DeSoto Prairie: A dry-mesic prairie remnant preserved as a right-of-way strip adjacent to highway route 51 north of DeSoto, south of Elkville (Voigt 1984). It is owned by Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, but has been used by classes from SIUC plant biology department for many years (Anderson 1972; Thompson & Heinecke 1977; Skeel & Gibson, 1996, 1998). The site is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources who conduct periodic prescribed burns. Characteristic species include little bluestem, Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), and woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus).
Fults Hill prairie: Hill prairies are found on steep southwest or west-facing slopes along the Mississippi River bluffs. The soils overly limestone and vary from a few cm to several meters of loess. Because of the exposure and topography the species are typical of drier grasslands, with little bluestem and Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama) being common (Anderson 1972). The most extensive study was that of Evers (1955) who surveyed hill prairies throughout the State. Voigt & Mohlenbrock (1964) compare a number of hill prairies in southern Illinois. We will sample the Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve in Monroe County. The preserve contains the largest complex of undisturbed hill prairies along the Mississippi River in Illinois (McFall 1991). Hiekens (1991) provides a species list for a limestone glade and loess prairie from the site. The Illinois Department of Conservation is managing the preserve with prescribed burning (Suchecki 1998).
Freeman Mine restoration: Southern Illinois is characterized by extensive areas of coal strip mine disturbance. Federal and State laws require and regulate the reclamation of these areas. Ongoing research at SIUC and elsewhere is concerned with determining the best suite of species to revegetate the restored mine land after the mining operations have ceased. Most of the time the goal is to either establish forest on these areas of develop the soil sufficient to allow the farming of row crops, chiefly corn or soybeans. However, a rapid vegetation cover is often desirable to provide soil stability in the early phases of revegetation. Native grasses can offer a suitable solution to this problem. In this lab we shall visit a mine site where several native and non-native grasses have been established in plots to act as nurse plants for young tree seedlings. It will be instructive to see how successfull the different species of grasses have been.
Experimental plots were established by Dr. Ashby of SIUC at Freeman United Coal Mining Company Fidelity Mine No. 11, 6.5 km west of DeQuion, IL in 1980. The site consists of graded spoil from a boxcut that was reopened in 1978 after original mining in the 1950's. The soil is a Lenzburg gravelly silty clay loam described as moderately slowly permeable. In 1989 the soil ranged in pH from 4.2 to 8.0 (Ashby et al. 1989). As a part of a larger tree establishment trial, grasses were sown with a hand seeder into 0.5 ha plots in March 1981 at a rate of 0.9 kg ha-2 (16.8 kg ha-2 for Bromus inermis). The following grass species were sown into plots as one species per plot (Figure 1):
Agropyron cristatum Crested wheat grass Agropyron smithii Western wheat grass Agrostis alba var. alba Red Top Andropogon gerardii Big bluestem Bromus inermis Smooth Brome Festuca arundinacea Tall or Large Fescue* Festuca rubra Red Fescue Panicum virgatum Switchgrass Phleum pratense Timothy* Poa compressa Canadian Bluegrass* Poa trivialis Meadow grass* Sorghastrum nutans Indiangrass
* These species are originally introduced to the US from Europe.
A number of plots were also planted with forbs, e.g., crownvetch (Coronilla varia), Birdsfoot trefoil, var. Empire (Lotus corniculatus), Alfalfa var. Kansas (Medicago sativa), and red clover (Trifolium pratense). We will not be directly concerned with these plots.
Ashby et al. (1989) reported that of these combinations, Andropogon gerardii and Festuca rubra were the most successful six years after planting.
Green Earth II: A small, 3 ha nature preserve near Carbondale's Oakland Cemerary dedicated to the resotration of a natural prairie environment. The site was acquired by Green Earth, Inc., a non-profit organization in 1978 from the City of Carbondale. Half of the site was seeded with prairie plants donated by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service in 1985. The SIUC Botany Department (as we were known then) provided seedlings of prairie dock (Silphium terebinthenaceum) sometime before 1990. Andropogon gerardii, Sorghastrum nutans and Panicum virgatum are the dominant grasses.
Green Earth Wetland: Another small nature reserve in Carbondale. This wetland prairie was established in the early 1990s with a tallgrass prairie seed mix that included Andropogon gerardii, Sorghastrum nutans, and probably Panicum virgatum. Other prominant species today includes Festuca arundinacea and Panicum anceps. Historically, the site was riparian forest that was cleared sometime after the 1920's for agriculture. Construction of homes on the west side of Emerald Lane led to the digging of 13 E/W borrow strips in 1959 that led to the inundated strips that remain today. At some point the area was abandonded from agriculture and (probably) seeded as a pasture. Today, the site is unmanaged apart from semi-annual mowing to keep down woody invaders. The soils belong to the Bonnie series soils - typical of poorly drained, moderate to slowely permeable areas formed on silty alluvium. Festuca arundinacea growing at this site was found to highly infected with fungal endophytes (Spyreas et al. 2001).
Ozark Hill prairies: The Ozark Hill Prairie Research Natural Area in Alexander County, IL is a 216 ha tract of the Shawnee National Forest owned by the U.S. Government and managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Part of the Ozark Hills Natural Division, it contains relatively undisturbed natural communities, mostly white oak- black oak- northern red oak forest (117 ha), including a number of scattered hill prairie remnants.
The hill prairie remnants are on and beneath the crest of south- and west-facing loess-capped ridges throughout the area. Much of these have almost disappeared in recent years because of encroachment from woody vegetation, especially sassafrass (Sassafras albidum). Nevertheless, the openings that remain are dominated by big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium), prairie dock, and slender bush clover (Lespedeza virginica).
Several Master's students have conducted their research in these hill prairies to document the role of fire on species composition (Bagiensky 1979, Elsenhiemer 1994, Perkins 2002), to investigate microclimatic influences on Indian grass and woodland sunflower (McCall 1995), and to provide baseline data from a series of permanent plots (Adams 1999).
Simpson Barren: A small (69 acre) tract of National Forest in Johnson County, containing high quality dry upland forest and limestone glade communities. The area is on a southern slope exposure of loess over Kinkaid limestone.
Set amidst a dry upland forest of black oak and post oak, 3 distinct glade communities total approximately 10 acres. The glades appear never to have been cultivated. Common plants include: little bluestem, Indian grass, tick trefoil (Desmodium cilare), woodland sunflower, elm-leaved goldenrod (Solidago ulmifolia), tall boneset (Eupatorium altisimmum), rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), drooping coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), rosinweed, and prairie dock.
In the mid- 1980's Forest Service botanists, Max Hutchinson and Lawrence Stritch noticed prairie plants growing along the roadside of the area. Intrigued, they noted that original government surveyor's reports from the 1830's used the term 'barrens' to describe much of the Simpson area. Early aerial photographs from 1938 showed an open landscape of 'wolf trees' (Stritch, 1990). Consequently, in the fall of 1987 a hand thinning, and later in spring 1988, a prescribed burning program was started (Mohlenbrock, 1993). Regular and frequent burns have been carried out ever since.
The results of the management regime has been a spectacular restoration of the barrens. It is believed that most of the prairie species that have returned rapidly were existing under the forest canopy as depauperate two-leaved specimens. With continued prescribed burns and thinning it hoped that the barrens will increase in area and floristic diversity.
Touch of Nature: A set of 72 experimental plots that were established in 1996 in an abandoned tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) horse pasture (Gibson et al., 1999). Treatments include a complete factorial design of mowing and fertilizer (see figure). The composition of the plots in response to the two treatment combinations illustrates how abandoned old-fields change through time going from a grass-dominated stage to woody vegetation (Bazzaz 1968). A complete species list available at: TON Flora. Diversity has been shown to be related in part to endophyte infection of tall fescue Spyreas et al (2001).
Wildcat Bluff Glade Prairie: A 2 ha natural forest opening southwest of Vienna in Johnson Co. It is part of the 753 ha Heron Pond-Little Black Slough Nature Preserve owned by the State of Illinois Department of Conservation (Voigt 1984, McFall 1991). The area contains high quality upland forest and limestone glade communities representative of the Lesser Shawnee Hills Section of the Shawnee Hills Natural Division. Twenty-one Illinois threatened and endangered spieces and two federally endangered species occur in the area.
The prairie is considered by Heikens & Robertson (1995) as a limestone natural forest opening (limestone glade) because of the underlying cherty soils (Hosmer-Stoy-Weir association) over a limestone bedrock. Common species include little bluestem, priarie dock, and Indian grass. Limestone glades are floristically similar to loess hill prairies except the former have a higher cover of woody species, shallower soils and exposed bed rock.
Literature Cited:
Adams, E. D. 1999. Vegetative analysis and examination of beta diversity at Burke Branch and Ozark Hill Prairies Research Natural Areas in the Shawnee National Forest, Illinois. M.S thesis, SIUC.
Anderson, R.C. 1972. Prairie history, management and restoration in southern Illinois. In: (Zimmerman, J.H., Ed.) Proceedings of the second Midwest Prairie Conference. University of Wisconsin, Madison. pp. 15-21.
Ashby, W.C., Hannigan, K.P., & Kost, D.A. 1989. Coal mine reclamation with grasses and legumes in southern Illinois. J. Soil Water Conserv. 44: 79-83.
Bagiensky, F.F. 1979. The effect of a prescribed spring fire on four hill prairies in the Ozark region of southern Illinois. M.S. thesis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Elsenhiemer, T.E. 1994. The effects of 14 years of biennial spring burning on above ground biomass and woody plant invasion in four Alexander County, Illinois hill prairies. M.S. thesis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Ely, J. S. 2001. A Test of the core-satellite species hypothesis in Shale and Sandstone Glades, Illinois. PhD dissertation, Southern Illinois University.
Ely, J.S., & Gibson, D.J. 1998. The effect of various management retime on species compsition in shale glade communities, Union County, Illinois. Final Report to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. (available in Morris Library).
Gibson, D.J., Middleton, B.A., Saunders, G.W., Mathis, M., Weaver, W.T., Neely, J., Rivera, J., & Oyler, L.M. 1999. Learning ecology by doing ecology: Long-term field experiments in succession. American Biology Teacher, 61: 217-222.
Hiekens, A.A., & Robertson, P.A. 1994. Classification of barrens and other natural xeric forest openings in southern Illinois. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 122: 203-214.
McCall, R.K. 1995. Microclimatic influence on spatial heterogeneity and photosynthesis in Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash. and Helianthus divaricatus L. in southern Illinois loess hill prairies. M.S. thesis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
McCall, R.K., & Gibson, D.J. 1999. The regeneration potential of a threatened southern Illinois shale barren. J. Torrey Bot. Soc., 126: 226-233.
McFall, D. (Ed.). 1991. A Directory of Illinois Nature Preserves. Illinois Department of Conservation, Division of Natural Heritage.
Mohlenbrock, R.H. 1993. Simpson Township Barrens, Illinois. Natural History 4: 25-27.
Perkins, P. 2002. The changes in three Ozark hill prairies since cessation of management in 1989. M.S. Thesis, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2002.
Skeel, V.A., & Gibson, D.J. 1996. Physiological performance of Andropogon gerardii, Panicum virgatum, and Sorghastrum nutans on reclaimed mine spoil. Restoration Ecology, 4: 355-367.
Skeel, V.A., & Gibson, D.J. 1998. Photosynthetic rates and vegetative production of Sorghastrum nutans in response to competition at two strip mines and a railroad prairie. Photosynthetica, 35:139-149.
Spyreas, G., Gibson, D. J. & Basinger, M. 2001. Endophyte infection levels of native and naturalized fescues in Illinois and England. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 128: 25-34.
Spyreas, G., Gibson, D.J., & Middleton, B.A. 2001. Effects of endophyte infection in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea; Poaceae) on community development. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 162:1237-1245.
Stritch, L.R. 1990. Landscape-scale restoration of barrens-woodland within the oak-hickory forest mosaic. Restoration & Management Notes 8: 73-77.
Suchecki, S.R. 1998. Restoration of a limestone glade and former barrens at Fults hill prairie nature preserve in southwestern Illinois. M.S. Thesis, SIUC.
Thompson, R.L. & T.E. Heinecke. 1977. Vascular flora of the DeSoto-Hallidayboro railroad prairie strips, Jackson county, Illinois. Trans. Ill. State Acad. Sci. 70: 114-127.
Voigt, J. 1984.The prairies of Southern Illinois. Erigenia 4: 15-30.
This page prepared by Prof David J. Gibson; e-mail comments, suggestions, corrections to dgibson@plant.siu.edu.
http://www.science.siu.edu/plant-biology/PLB440/440labs.htm
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