Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-24-2026

Publication Source

Restoration Ecology

Abstract

Introduction: Prairie restoration on degraded lands may be influenced by seed mix characteristics, including species richness and legume establishment. Soil amendments may facilitate restoration; however, the practical usefulness of techniques such as applications of whole soil and leaf mulch remains relatively unclear.

Objectives: We assessed whether increasing species richness and legume content in seed mixes enhances prairie restoration success and examined how soil amendments interact with seed mix composition to influence cover, species richness, diversity, and legume establishment.

Methods: We conducted a field experiment on a 12-ha post-agricultural site in Ohio, U.S.A. Twenty 50 × 50 m plots received one of four prairie seed mixes varying in species richness (39 vs. 25 species) and legume content (20% vs. 5% by seed weight). Each plot was subdivided into four subplots receiving leaf mulch, whole-soil inoculation, mulch plus soil, or no amendment. Vegetation surveys quantified cover, species richness, diversity, and legume cover.

Results: After 3 years, we found that higher richness seed mixes increased species richness but did not enhance diversity. Increasing legume content in seed mixes did not result in greater legume cover. Non-seeded legumes established widely, and dominance by the non-seeded native species Symphyotrichum pilosum suppressed species diversity without reducing species richness.

Conclusions: Seed mix composition and soil amendments interact in complex ways that can influence restoration outcomes. Prairie establishment depends on site-specific factors and stochastic recruitment dynamics.

ISBN/ISSN

ISSN: 1061-2971; eISSN: 1526-100X

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

Restoration Ecology is published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Ecological Restoration. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. doi: 10.1111/rec.70532Supporting information at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.70532/suppinfo

Publisher

Wiley Periodicals on behalf of Society for Ecological Restoration

Peer Reviewed

yes

Issue

e70532

Keywords

leaf mulch, plant diversity, prairie establishment, seed mixtures, Symphyotrichum pilosum, soil microbial commu-nities, species richness, whole soil

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