An Assessment of the Use of Seeding, Mowing, and Burning in the Restoration of an Oldfield to Tallgrass Prairie in Lewisville, Texas

An examination of the effectiveness of seeding, burning, and mowing in the reestablishment of tallgrass prairie species on overgrazed and abandoned pastureland. The study site is a 20 acre tract on U.S. Corps of Engineers land below Lake Lewisville in Denton County, Texas. The site was partitioned into thirty-nine 40 by 40 meter plots with seeding (carried out in 1996) and management treatment (burning, mowing, and no maintenance carried out in 1998) randomly applied following a two level design. For each plot, nine stratified-random 0.1 m2 subplots were examined and shoot counts for each species recorded. The effects of the treatments on individual species and species richness were analyzed with a two-way ANOVA followed by a SNK multiple range test, both on ranked data. Community level analysis was conducted with both a MANOVA on ranked data and a Canonical Correspondence Analysis on raw data. Results indicate that seeding positively affected species richness, particularly when combined with either burning or mowing in the early spring. Mowing also significantly increased species richness in areas that were not seeded, while burning negatively affected species richness on unseeded plots. Treatments significantly affected community composition with treatments having the most clear effect on spring and summer forbs.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

1999

Author dc:creator

• Windhager, Steven

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dickson, Kenneth L.
• Atkinson, Samuel F.
• Kennedy, James H.
• Steigman, Kenneth
• La Point, Thomas W., 1949-

• Grasslands -- Texas -- Denton County.
• Plant communities -- Texas -- Denton County.
• Grassland ecology -- Texas -- Denton County.
• grasslands
• endangered ecosystems
• plant communities
• seeding
• burning

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Windhager, Steven
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 45155994
untcat: b2231788
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2207/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc2207

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc2207