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Grassland resilience, from drought to deluge:
Lessons from 25+ years of botanical monitoring on OSMP grasslands
Caitlin WhiteCU Boulder, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
BCNA Ecosymposium 2019
Photo: cassi saari
USFWS
Stefan.lefnaerJoshua Mayer USDA
Alexschott
Anthony Valois
Stan Shebs FeasterCecile
Matt Lavin
Stan Shebs
CC BY-SA 3.0
Pennsylvania Army National GuardCurtis Clark
Bouba
Source: Baker, W., and S. Galowitch. 1985. The Boulder Tallgrass Prairies. M. Figgs and N. Lederer, eds. BCNA Publication No. 3.
6 transects
2 transects
10 transects
6 transects
2 transects
2m
10 transects
2 grazed
2 grazed
2 grazed
2 grazed
8 prescribedburn
4 prescribed burn
2 grazed
2 grazed
8 prescribedburn
4 prescribed burn
2 grazed + burn
Year
Mea
n tr
anse
ct c
over
(%)
USFWS
Christian Fischer
Oregon State Ext.
Is there a baseline?
Is there a baseline?
• Dynamic system
Is there a baseline?
• Dynamic system
• What is your window? (spatial and temporal)
Is there a baseline?
• Dynamic system
• What is your window? (spatial and temporal)
• Target goals for slow and fast disturbance
(e.g. non-native species after drought)
• 4 graduate research projects
• 2 undergraduate honors theses
• 4 undergraduate summer
research projects
• Outdoor classroom for
Restoration Ecology
Within the Suding Lab…
Partnerships for managementPhotos: Julie Larson
We must perpetuate the living prairie; the falcon diving into the bluestem for a sparrow, the coneflower and its colony of ants and aphids, the rattlesnake and mouse. Not just the waving ”redgrass”, but the tallgrass prairie community within.
– William Baker (1985)
