Restoration Ecology Research
Grassland

A grassland (sometimes called a prarie in temperate regions) are great plains of grass that experience hot temperatures in the summer and cold temperatures in the winter. It is a complex ecosystem supporting a large amount of wildlife. In the past, grasslands covered 200 million acres in North America. But due to agriculture, the reduction of large grazers (i.e., caribou and bison), and fire suppression, today, less than 1% of the native grassland remains, mostly in small patches. Restoration sites, steep river banks, roadsides and small pieces of land that were never cultivated are where most grassland remnants are found today.

Grassland restoration is the process of recreating a grassland (inluding both plant and animal communities) where one existed but now is gone. Grassland restoration can include planting a new grassland where one had been broken and farmed, or it can include improving a degraded grassland (e.g. one that was never plowed but lost many plant and animal species due to prior land management practices).

The restoration of native grasslands affects ecological diversity by increasing the abundance of native plants and creating the necessary habitats for native animals and insects. In addition, grasslands are stable systems and an established prairie absorbs more rainfall than many other vegetative covers reducing erosion and runoff, which can improve water quality.

Science Services is currently engaged in the following projects relating to grassland restoration

• Rediscovery of the Rosinweed moth (Tabenna silphiella)
• Evaluation of Landscape Management in Habitat Restoration
• Management Impacts on Prairie Invertebrates
• Landscape Scale Management of Northwest Pine Barrens
• Mapping and Analysis of Northern Wisconsin Pre-European Forest