LTREB: Long-term studies of secondary succession and community assembly in the prairie-forest ecotone of eastern Kansas

了解局部和区域过程如何相互作用以调节生态系统的结构和功能，对于预测人类活动对生物多样性和生态系统可持续性的影响至关重要。该项目继续在堪萨斯州草原进行两项长期田间试验，调查土壤肥力和种子有效性对草地群落动态响应干扰的影响。这两个实验都通过施肥来控制土壤养分，并采用多物种种子添加来控制物种在演替过程中的可用性。实验1通过对土壤氮磷的调控来考察废弃农用地上植物群落的发育情况。实验2与实验1相似，对土壤资源和种子有效性进行调控，但在牧草管理和草原草甸恢复的背景下进行。这些长期实验的结果将对植物群落的组合和功能产生基本的见解，同时为草原的保护和恢复提供信息，特别是关于本土干草草甸，这是堪萨斯州东部草原多样性的重要资料库。该项目将有助于堪萨斯大学野外研究站（KUFS）的发展，补充KUFS正在进行的草原和恢复生态学研究，并将支持研究生、本科生和高中生的教育和培训。

Understanding how local and regional processes interact to regulate the structure and functioning of ecological systems is crucial for predicting the influence of human activity on biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability. This project continues two long-term field experiments in Kansas grasslands investigating effects of soil fertility and seed availability on grassland community dynamics in response to disturbance. Both experiments manipulate soil nutrients through fertilization and employ multi-species seed additions to manipulate availability of species to sites undergoing succession. Experiment 1 involves manipulations of soil nitrogen and phosphorus to examine plant community development on abandoned agricultural land. Experiment 2 parallels Experiment 1 with manipulations of soil resources and seed availability, but does so in the context of hay management and prairie hay meadow restoration. Results from these long-term experiments will yield basic insights into the assembly and functioning of plant communities while informing the conservation and restoration of grasslands, particularly with respect to native hay meadows which are important repositories of prairie diversity in eastern Kansas. The project will contribute to the development of the University of Kansas Field Station (KUFS), complement ongoing research at KUFS in grassland and restoration ecology, and will support the education and training of graduate, undergraduate and high school students.