Life Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Mycorrhizal Inoculant And Micronutrients On Early Plant Establshment During A Tallgrass Prairie Reconstruction, Christopher L. Barber

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Symbiotic relationships between mycorrhizal fungi and land plants are one of the most widespread examples of symbiosis on Earth yet there is still much to discover about their ecological impacts.

Prairie reconstructions are often done on highly disturbed sites such as reclaimed cropland, turf grass, and road rights-of-way. Disturbed soils often lack adequate quantities of both mycorrhizal fungi and micronutrients. I hypothesized that inoculated seeds with mycorrhizal spores or micronutrient seed treatments will aid in the early establishment of a tallgrass prairie.

To test this hypothesis four treatments (T1 control, T2 mycorrhizal, T3 micronutrient, and T4 mycorrhizal and micronutrient) were …

The Effects Of Nutrient Resorption, Photosynthetic Rate, And Leaf Longevity On The Success Of Typha × Glauca, Clarissa Marie Ruiz

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The hybrid cattail Typha × glauca is invasive in the Midwestern United States, and outcompetes wetland natives and its parent species, Typha angustifolia and Typha latifolia under high nutrient conditions. Typha × glauca’s large size and copious litter production are the main factors known to contribute to its success, although research is lacking on physiological processes that contribute to its nitrogen use efficiency.

Nitrogen resorption was investigated as a mechanism of dominance in Typha × glauca. Due to nitrogen resorption being a nutrient conservation strategy, nitrogen resorption should be high in areas of low nitrogen availability. Since nitrogen …