Soil organic matter and microbes are key determinants of soil quality, and ultimately successful prairie restorations (Callaham et al. 2008). Soil structure created via biological aggregation is very important to provide the appropriate balance of soil water and air for plants to grow. Soil microbes mineralize and immobilize nutrients, making them available for root uptake and preventing their loss to the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Soil microbes mediate the turnover of C in SOM and influence the long-term C sequestration potential of a soil. The proposed project will not only provide invaluable data for restored prairie SOM dynamics, microbial biomass and activity, but also train MASS student interns in environmental field and laboratory research. The proposed research will serve as a seed project for larger studies aiming to: 1) develop a soil quality index for evaluation of prairie restoration efforts; and, 2) identify how soil properties and processes change across restored prairies in the Chicagoland region. To date we have sample the Schulenberg prairie, the Chicago State prairie, and the Tefft Savanna.

SERP - Soil Ecology in Restored Prairies (2009 and forward)

Chicago State
prairie (top-left), Tefft savanna (bottom-left), Schulenberg
prairie at The Morton Arboretum (top-right), and Bryant and Pat describing Schulenberg soils (bottom-right).