Soil Bulk Density Variability in a Restored Prairie Ecosystem

Soils act as the foundation for all terrestrial biotic activity. Given this it is important to consider the factors that influence the physical makeup of soil as well as the management practices that can lead to changes and significant biological implications. Beginning in 1999 Cedarville University established a Prairie Restoration Site. In the past fifteen years work has been to done to reseed the area with native prairie grasses as well as to introduce regular disturbances that are common to prairie grasslands, such as fire. The goal of this work the goal has been to aid a system in ecological succession. In the current study, we seek to evaluate the success of this with regard to the corresponding changes in the soil environment. We look to distinguish this source of variability from the natural variability introduced by the physical landscape (slope) and the resulting soil series. To evaluate these ideas we will investigate how two factors, soil series (corresponding to slope position) and prairie restoration, affect soil bulk density. We collected soil samples (to a depth of 15 cm) from the restored prairie as well as the adjacent area. In addition to this variable, we acquired samples in both locations across a range of three different soil series distributed within this same area. Specifically, we collected samples from the “XeB-Xenia B,” “Ra-Ragsdale,” and “Russel-Miamian - RvB2” soil types. We will use a two factor ANOVA to evaluate the impact of a change in soil series, or prairie restoration on soil bulk density