Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Completed Competitive Grant

Increasing carbon sequestration of working prairie by reducing invasive species in a fire and grazing system

Project ID: E2010-16

Abstract

The investigators looked at one method for curbing invasive species that limit carbon sequestration potential for tallgrass prairie stands. They also learned that grasslands dominated by either warm-season, cool-season, or mixed stands are likely equal in their carbon sequestration potential.

Key Question: Do grasslands dominated by native grasses have higher carbon sequestration potential than those dominated by introduced forage grasses- namely tall fescue?

Findings: The project hypothesis was that native species with greater rooting depths offered more potential to sequester carbon than introduced species, and that the fire-grazing interaction would promote native species and increase overall carbon sequestration potential. Data developed in this study did not support these hypotheses, nor did it reject them. Complex soil processes and the short history of fire reintroduction to the study sites may have masked some of the benefits.

Lead investigator: Ryan Harr, ISU Natural Resource Ecology and Management

Co-Investigator(s):

David Engle, Oklahoma State University; Devan McGranahan, University of the South; Jessica Veenstra, Flagler College; Aaron Daigh, ISU Agronomy

Year of grant completion: 2012

This competitive grant project was part of the Leopold Center's Ecology Initiative.

Topics: Animal management and forage, Soils and agronomy