Arboretum Leaflets #8–14
Jelinski, Nic and N. Anderson.2007. Diversity and Productivity of Faville Prairie. Arboretum Leaflet 14
This new study of a diverse prairie remnant contradicts theory that species-rich vegetation is more productive than less-diverse plant communities. Jelinski and Anderson found that aboveground productivity in the monotypic reed canary grass was about twice that of the native wet prairie.
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Zedler, J.B. 2007. Climate Change and Arboretum Wetlands. Arboretum Leaflet 13
While no one knows how climate change will affect Curtis
Prairie, insights can be gained by documenting the phenology (timingof events) of key species. In this leaflet, new data (Legner and Kolberg 2006) quantify the growing and flowering seasons of two native species and the invasive reed canary grass. The latter appears to have a clear advantage that could translate to even greater dominance with climate change.
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Zedler, J.B. and D. Liebl. 2006. Turning Stormwater Facilities into Amenities for Learning. Arboretum Leaflet 12
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Zedler, J.B. and S.J. Hall. 2006. The March of Cattails Across Gardner Marsh. Arboretum Leaflet 11
Invasive cattails have expanded about 80 cm per year near the
Gardner Marsh boardwalk, according to analyses of historical air photos conducted by Frank Scarpace's students.
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Zedler J.B. 2006. Why are wetlands so valuable? Arboretum Leaflet 10
May is wetlands month, a suitable time to explore their high value to humans. This leaflet draws on the estimates of Costanza et al. (1997) to quantify (in dollars) the annual renewable ecosystem services attributable to wetlands.
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Hall, S., Peach M. and J.B. Zedler. 2006. Creating heterogeneous topography to restore sedge meadow diversity. Arboretum Leaflet 9
Nature is heterogeneous, but many restoration sites are graded smooth. We tested the idea that flat topography might slow sedge meadow development--we built small mounds and seeded native species to both mounded and flat plots. As hypothesized, the mounded plots supported more plant species. The project grew out of Michelle Peach's M.S. Thesis in Land Resources and Steve Hall's Senior Honors Thesis in Botany.
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Herr-Turoff, A. and J.B. Zedler. 2006. Does invasive reed canary grass retain more nitrogen than wet prairie vegetation? Arboretum Leaflet 8
Just because reed canary grass (RCG) outgrows most native plants doesn't mean it always takes up more nitrogen or is the best choice for "treatment wetlands." Herr-Turoff found no evidence that RCG was better at nitrogen removal than wet prairie vegetation (in mesocosms).
Download (pdf - 1.3 MB)
Arboretum Leaflets #15–32
Arboretum Leaflets #1–7