Determining the optimal species mix for revegetating roadsides with native prairie communities

圣威廉姆斯苗圃和生态中心出售本地草和野花种子的混合物，用于路边修复。他们通常会建议在旁边种植一种保育作物，为本地物种提供更好的条件。满足客户对新扰动场地快速创造“绿色、稳定”条件的要求。 路边是恶劣的环境，高盐度，高氮，高水平的干扰和杂草入侵。这项拟议中的研究将解决他们的问题，即在路边条件下哪种是最好的保育作物，以及哪种本地物种最适合路边。在圣威廉姆斯苗圃和生态中心的一块农田里，研究人员将种植本地植物混合物，改变覆盖作物并添加不同数量的盐和氮。将评估早期的生长情况（以“绿色和稳定”为衡量标准）和后期的恢复成功情况（以生物量和本地多样性为衡量标准）。比较物种在正常和路边型条件下的表现将表明哪些本地物种在路边条件下表现最好。 本研究的结果将有助于圣威廉姆斯苗圃与生态中心为路边绿化提供更合适的建议，这将增加他们修复项目的成功率。更高的成功率将有助于推销他们的产品，促进更高的种子销售。圣威廉姆斯苗圃与生态中心和研究人员将在一份报告中公布结果，该报告提供给任何从事使用本地种子的路边恢复项目的组织。这不仅将使SWENC等现有公司及其客户受益，而且将鼓励成立新的企业，并扩大一个具有解决该省重要自然资源问题的巨大潜力的行业。

St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre sells mixes of native grass and wildflower seed for roadside restoration. They typically recommend a nurse crop be planted alongside, both to provide better conditions for the native species. and to meet the request of customers that "green and stable" conditions are created quickly at newly disturbed sites. Roadsides are harsh environments, with high salinity, high nitrogen, high levels of disturbance and invasion by weeds. The proposed research will address their questions of which is the best nurse crop under roadside conditions, and which native species are best adapted to the roadside. In a farm field at St. Williams Nursery& Ecology Centre, the researcher will grow native plant mixes, varying the cover crop and adding different amounts of roadsalt and nitrogen. Both early growth, with measures of "green and stable", and later restoration success, with measures of biomass and native diversity, will be assessed. Comparing species performance in normal and roadside-type conditions will indicate which native species do best in roadside conditions. The results of this study will help St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre provide more appropriate recommendations for roadside restorations, which will increase the success of their restoration projects. Higher success rates will help in marketing their product, promoting higher seed sales. St. Williams Nursery& Ecology Centre and the researcher will publish the results in a report available to any organization engaging in roadside restoration projects that use native seed. This will benefit not only existing firms like SWENC and their clients, but will encourage the formation of new businesses, and the expansion of an industry which has tremendous potential to solve important natural resource problems in the province.