Soil Properties and Native Plant Communities in a Kansas Prairie

dc.contributor.advisorWeil, Ray R.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGordon, Carol Sueen_US
dc.contributor.departmentPlant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA)en_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2004-08-27T05:39:42Z
dc.date.available2004-08-27T05:39:42Z
dc.date.issued2004-08-18en_US
dc.description.abstractI hypothesized that the relative proportion of grasses and legumes in native prairie communities are associated with physical and chemical soil properties. In a greenhouse study, I determined species responses to differences in soils ex situ by individually growing three grasses, two legumes, and two composites in soils from four sites on a never-plowed prairie at The Land Institute in Saline County, KS. The highest organic matter (OM) soil produced the highest plant dry matter for five of the species. In a field study, I measured 20 soil properties in 24 quadrats (0.5 m2) with high, low, or no legume cover on the same four sites. After incubation, NH4 in subsurface soils was lower for high legume cover suggesting higher nitrification. Discriminant multivariate analysis showed the ratio, active C as a percent of total C, and percent OM were the most closely associated surface soil variables with percent legume cover.en_US
dc.format.extent812328 bytes
dc.format.extent767488 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/msword
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1840
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledAgriculture, Agronomyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledAgriculture, Soil Scienceen_US
dc.titleSoil Properties and Native Plant Communities in a Kansas Prairieen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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