Principal Investigator: Dr. Benjamin O. Knapp
Institution and/or Affiliation: University of Missouri
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The proposed project addresses management questions related to the restoration and/or reconstruction of prairie, savanna, and woodland natural communities. This project will build off the work initiated in ‘Evaluation of Restoration and Reconstruction Techniques in a Gradient of Natural Communities of Missouri – Prairies, Savannas, and Woodlands’, a three-year project funded from 2019- 2022. Two key findings justify the need for continued monitoring and additional work: 1) treatment effects indicate further monitoring is needed to understand temporal trends over timeframes most meaningful to management decisions; and 2) additional treatment approaches or data collection, with minimal changes to the established study designs, can strengthen our understanding of the mechanisms for invasive plant management and community restoration. This proposal explicitly addresses Emphasis Area #1 (the control and management of exotic plant species present an overwhelming annual workload on PFCA. Assessment of the efficacy of methods for control is desired.). Each study objective was developed in consultation with managers at PFCA to address relevant restoration questions and build on the findings from the original study in action-oriented ways.