DEM01 Demographic studies of four forb species at Konza Prairie

Abstract:

Plant survival, growth, reproduction, and recruitment of 4 forb species (Amorpha canescens, Echinacea angustifolia, Aster oblongifolius, Kuhnia eupatorioides) were estimated annually within permanent transects in 20 watersheds, starting in 2020.

Core Areas:

Data set ID:

168

Short name:

DEM01

Purpose:

To quantify across-species variance in bison and climate responses for a representative suite of forb species at Konza Prairie.

Methods:

We exhaustively searched each transect for all individuals of one of the four species, marking plants and measuring species-specific size and fruit measurements that correlate well with dried biomass and with fruit number. We then returned annually to remeasure sizes and fruits, score survival, and estimate reproduction. Transects were of variable length and housed in annual, 2- and 4- year burn watersheds, in both bison-grazed and ungrazed watersheds.

Starting in 2021, to quantify recruitment, we exhaustively searched for unmarked plants in predefined subsets of the transect if any plants in that subset flowered or fruited during that year’s survey or the year prior’s survey.