Advisor Information
Ashlee Dere
Location
UNO Criss Library, Room 231
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
2-3-2018 1:15 PM
End Date
2-3-2018 1:30 PM
Abstract
Tallgrass prairies are productive ecosystems that historically covered a large part of the Midwest and in the past were subjected to frequent, natural fire regimes. Today prairie remnants are often managed by ecological burns. Glacier Creek Preserve is a restored prairie in Omaha, Nebraska that includes randomized research plots established in 1978 to study the effects of burning on vegetation and provides a controlled field environment to investigate the effects of fire on soils. The purpose of this study is to compare soil mineralogy in long-term burned and unburned plots to answer the question: “Does prescribed burning induce mineralogical changes in prairie soils compared to unburned prairie soils?”
Soil samples were collected from burned and unburned plots and subsequently analyzed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and elemental extractions. It is hypothesized that fire will affect mineralogy, resulting in an increase in calcite and the transformation of goethite to hematite in the burned plots, and that burning will result in more amorphous mineral structures for iron and aluminum bearing minerals. Changes in mineralogy have consequences for soil structure, water infiltration and retention, and nutrient availability, which impact soil microorganisms and plant growth. Collecting these baseline geological data will enhance our knowledge of Glacier Creek Preserve and prairie ecosystems, as well as provide relevant information on how fire management affects prairie soils.
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Included in
Fire-Induced Mineralogical Changes in Midwest Tallgrass Prairie Soils
UNO Criss Library, Room 231
Tallgrass prairies are productive ecosystems that historically covered a large part of the Midwest and in the past were subjected to frequent, natural fire regimes. Today prairie remnants are often managed by ecological burns. Glacier Creek Preserve is a restored prairie in Omaha, Nebraska that includes randomized research plots established in 1978 to study the effects of burning on vegetation and provides a controlled field environment to investigate the effects of fire on soils. The purpose of this study is to compare soil mineralogy in long-term burned and unburned plots to answer the question: “Does prescribed burning induce mineralogical changes in prairie soils compared to unburned prairie soils?”
Soil samples were collected from burned and unburned plots and subsequently analyzed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and elemental extractions. It is hypothesized that fire will affect mineralogy, resulting in an increase in calcite and the transformation of goethite to hematite in the burned plots, and that burning will result in more amorphous mineral structures for iron and aluminum bearing minerals. Changes in mineralogy have consequences for soil structure, water infiltration and retention, and nutrient availability, which impact soil microorganisms and plant growth. Collecting these baseline geological data will enhance our knowledge of Glacier Creek Preserve and prairie ecosystems, as well as provide relevant information on how fire management affects prairie soils.