Response of Tallgrass Prairie to Management in the U.S. Southern Great Plains: Site Descriptions, Management Practices, and Eddy Covariance Instrumentation for a Long-Term Experiment

Pradeep Wagle,James Neel,Patrick Starks,Prasanna Gowda,Brian Northup

doi:10.1002/essoar.10501817.1

Abstract

Understanding the consequences of different management practices on vegetation phenology, forage production and quality, plant and microbial species composition, greenhouse gas emissions, and water...

Highlights

The coverage of tallgrass prairies once occupied >68 × 106 ha of the North American Great Plains before European Settlement, the remaining 1% [1], after mostly converted to croplands, is still important for livestock production in several states of the United States
Some tallgrass prairies are unmanaged as low input production systems, while others are highly managed, which is mainly driven by economics and need of farmers/ranchers
The response of tallgrass prairie to management practices and disturbances might be influenced by other treatments and/or management practices, their timing and duration, and other factors such as differences in plant communities and landscape positions [4]

Summary

Introduction

The coverage of tallgrass prairies once occupied >68 × 106 ha of the North American Great Plains before European Settlement, the remaining 1% [1], after mostly converted to croplands, is still important for livestock production in several states of the United States. Some tallgrass prairies are unmanaged as low input production systems, while others are highly managed, which is mainly driven by economics and need of farmers/ranchers. These grasslands frequently experience different disturbances and management practices such as burning, grazing, drought, fertilization, and harvesting of hay [2]. The response of tallgrass prairie to management practices and disturbances might be influenced by other treatments and/or management practices (e.g., fertilization, burning, grazing), their timing and duration, and other factors such as differences in plant communities (i.e., the proportion of C3 and C4 species) and landscape positions [4]. The responses of tallgrass prairie to main and interacting effects of a suite of management practices should be examined over longer (a decade or more) periods as most previous studies were short-term (2–4 years)

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