Soil respiration and plant growth across a chronosequence of tallgrass prairie reconstructions

Tallgrass prairie is disappearing because farming and development have replaced it. This ecosystem is home to a unique group of plants, animals, and microbial life. The processes of fire, grazing by animals, and drought are important to the tallgrass prairie. They can influence each other and prairie life. For example, pyric-herbivory is the interaction of fire and grazing on the landscape. Burned areas attract herbivores (plant eaters) like a magnet. After fires, plant growth is nutritious and easy to find. Herbivores prefer grazing recently burned areas, creating patches of different habitats that support many other wildlife species, too. You can see pyric-herbivory in action at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, where fire, cattle, and bison are a part of the preserve’s management team! Healthy tallgrass prairie needs both fire and grazing.

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Different behavioral patterns of the earthworms Octolasion tyrtaeum and Diplocardia spp. in tallgrass prairie soils: potential influences on plant growth

Biology and Fertility of Soils ◽

10.1007/s003740100370 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 49-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Mac Callaham ◽

John Blair ◽

Paul Hendrix

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

Behavioral Patterns ◽

Prairie Soils ◽

Octolasion Tyrtaeum

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Relationship between mycorrhizal activity, burning, and plant productivity in tallgrass prairie

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b91-323 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 69 (12) ◽

pp. 2597-2602 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

S. P. Bentivenga ◽

B. A. D. Hetrick

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽

Warm Season ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Mycorrhizal Colonization ◽

Prairie Grasses ◽

Vesicular Arbuscular ◽

The Impact ◽

First Time

The impact of benomyl fungicide and spring burning on mycorrhizal activity and plant growth was assessed in tallgrass prairie in Kansas. We report for the first time that the productivity of mycotrophic plants can be reduced by inhibition of indigenous vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under field conditions. A vital stain, nitro blue tetrazolium, used to assess active mycorrhizal colonization, proved to be a more sensitive measure of treatment effects than the cell wall stain, trypan blue. Burning stimulated both plant growth and active mycorrhizal colonization. However, by 32 days after burning no differences in colonization were detected. Our observations support the hypothesis that mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in the growth of warm-season tallgrass prairie grasses and may contribute to enhanced plant growth of warm-season tallgrass prairie grasses and may contribute to enchanced plant growth following spring burning. Key words: burning, benomyl fungicide, phosphorus, tallgrass prairie, VA mycorrhizae, warm-season grasses.

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Responses of soil respiration and barley growth to modified supply of oxygen in the soil

Agricultural and Food Science ◽

10.23986/afsci.5671 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 303-318 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

A. SIMOJOKI

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Soil Respiration ◽

Molecular Diffusion ◽

Water Film ◽

Retention Data ◽

Moist Soil ◽

Soil Water Retention ◽

Soil Air ◽

Dry Land ◽

Soil Aeration

Roots of dry-land plants are supplied with oxygen mainly by molecular diffusion from soil air. Roots may suffer from hypoxia if soil aeration is reduced by compaction and wetting. Although the mechanisms involved are well known, more research is needed to relate soil aeration status to plant growth. The effects of reduced oxygen supply on soil respiration and the growth of barley seedlings were studied in pot experiments with fine sand soil, where the soil air composition was varied by flushing the soil with gas streams containing 0%, 2%, 6%, 10% or 20% O2 independently of compactness (bulk density 1.4, 1.6 Mg m-3) and wetness (air space 0-5%, >5%). Plant growth decreased only at 0-2% O2 in the loose moist soil but as early as 20% O2 in the wet soil. Soil compaction impaired plant growth regardless of wetting and aeration. In the loose moist soil cropped with barley, the respiration rate (emission of CO2) did not decrease at 6% O2 but decreased clearly at 0-2% O2. The results compared fairly well with the critical oxygen concentrations calculated by a simple multicylindrical model, in which the water-film thickness around the roots was estimated using soil water retention data.

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