Presenter(s)

Kiersten P Angelos, Carly Christine Delois, Madison J Dembinski, Amanda N Finke, Kaitlin M Gawkins, Shania E Hurst, Madeline R Norman, Ryan W Reihart, Mackenzie E Ryan

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Description

A critical need exists to understand what affects plant communities in coastal tallgrass ecosystems that are considered endangered ecosystems. We conducted an experiment in a coastal tall grass prairie in Texas that manipulated the amount of macronutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and micronutrients (calcium, sodium and potassium) in all possible combinations on a large scale. We estimated percent cover of every plant species in 4 pooled quadrats in all plots. Plant biomass was estimated by vegetation clipping. We found that when macronutrients were abundant then micronutrients had more profound effects on plant biomass and species richness, and some species seem co-limited by macro- and micronutrients. This data should be used to determine how to restore and treat coastal tallgrass prairies to understand their potential restoration.

Publication Date

4-5-2017

Project Designation

Independent Research - Graduate

Primary Advisor

Chelse Prather, Misty K. Thomas-Trout

Primary Advisor's Department

Biology

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

The role of micronutrients: because what we put into the soil actually matters to plants

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