1.Go over exams (~20 minutes) 2.Discuss guest speaker (5 minutes) 3.Prairie/savanna restoration 4.Wednesday – guest speaker, and we will discuss logistics for next two field trips; next week discuss brief article critique assignments

Mean = 85%

Sandy, glacial lake plain soils Eastern prickly pear cactus Opuntia humifusa

Source: Ohio DNR

Oak Savanna trees ha -1 black/white oak 51% land area 1 Brewer, L.G., and J.L. Vankat The vegetation of the Oak Openings of northwestern Ohio at the time of Euro-American settlement. Map and text. Ohio Biological Survey, Columbus, Ohio.

Oak Woodland >43 trees ha -1 black/white oak 23% land area

Wet prairie 0-1 trees ha -1 27% land area

Ecosystem Changes 1860s-Present Fire suppression Livestock Grazing Logging of oaks Drainage alterations Conversion to pine plantations Agricultural clearing, urban development

Red maple: 600 trees ha -1 Black cherry: 80 trees ha -1 Oaks: 180 trees ha -1 (41 o 33'00"N, 83 o 52'00"W)

Red maple: 480 trees ha -1 Black cherry: 80 trees ha -1 Oaks: 0 trees ha -1 (41 o 33'00"N, 83 o 51'15"W)

Karner blue butterfly

Purple = residential land cover change

Nuzzo, V.A Extent and status of Midwest oak savanna: presettlement and Natural Areas Journal 6: % of original oak savanna remains

RESTORATION OBJECTIVES  Reverse trend of ecosystem decline by reestablishing historical tree structure and reintroducing approximate historical disturbance regime to the contemporary degraded ecosystems  Specifically, to reestablish oak savanna, oak woodland, and wet prairie ecosystems in areas where they historically occurred but do not presently occur

How to do this? (a) Determine reference conditions – U.S. govt. land surveys, old trees, remnants, fire scars where possible (b) Choose sites – potential for ER; large oaks, block drainage ditches, soil survey (c) Prescribe treatments (fire, thinning)

Pre-treatment September 1998 Post-treatment July 2002 (41 o 32'45"N, 83 o 51'15"W)

Pre-treatment September 1998 Post-treatment July 2002 (41 o 32'50"N, 83 o 51'15"W)

298 total species, 19 Ohio listed 24 restoration plots:

Woodland Flora

* Denotes significant difference at P< 0.05 (paired t-test) Error bars represent 1 standard deviation Post-treatment (2002)

Restoration increases native species richness

Meadowsweet Restoration Wet Prairie Wild lupine Restoration Savanna

It’s not all rosy, Exotic species not always, but often, problems Fire timing not consistent with reference Unclear if missing certain species Small sizes Success of Karner blue reintroduction Use of land?

Puccoon Columbine Aster

Species richness (mean  1 SD) Lawn Native Plant Area 1.3   2.1 t = 9.4; P < 0.01