The John Rushin Teaching and Research Prairie at Missouri Western State University: First-year emerging vegetation and native-invasive species competition survey on a conservation prairie.

Background/Question/Methods

: Prairies, populated by a vegetation blend of grasses, herbs, shrubs, and some tree species, historically covered over 400,000 square miles of North America. However, as a consequence of land-use change, prairie coverage has substantially declined. In recent years, the scientific efforts focused on prairie restoration have largely increased, also establishing the basis of science-informed management practices. Missouri Western State University, in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Conservation and private land conservationists, has become one of the championing institutions of on-site prairie restoration in Missouri, with the restoration of a 26-acre campus plot to a conservation prairie. The John Rushin Teaching and Research Prairie today serves as a model prairie ecosystem designed to facilitate scientific research and education in an applied learning, outdoors setting for students, faculty, and the community. The current work, as part of a long-term ecological and eco-physiological study framework, focused on an initial, first-year survey of the emerging prairie vegetation after the initial seeding in 2020, and the relationship between emerging native species and invasive species. Sixty-five, 1m2 plots were selected (in function of elevation gradients, proximity to treelines, and areas pre-selected for future differential management), and surveyed biweekly, during the summer and fall of 2021.

Results/Conclusions

: Based on our initial survey, we found that in its first year after seeding, only a proportion of the seeded prairie vegetation emerged successfully, while invasives and noxious weeds were still represented by a large number of species in distinct areas of the prairie. We found, that about 60% of the emerging vegetation cover was composed of native species, and 40% non-native. About 50% of all identified species were weeds, 14% of which, noxious weeds. Of all identified species about 24% were grasses, and 27% belonged to the Asteraceae (Daisy) family. Surprisingly, plant family distributions of the identified species were very similar between summer and fall-blooming species. Further prairie management and successful competition between prairie species and invasives are expected to alter species composition in the following years, potentially shifting towards a higher success of native prairie species versus invasives. Planned differential management practices, launching in 2022, on the surveyed plots are expected to reveal best-fit management practices to ensure native success and conservation, in the following years.