Comparison of Old Field And Restoration at Salomon Farm Park, Indiana

<p>The main objective of plant community restoration is often to return an ecosystem to its historic successional trajectory. It can also be the result of other restoration, as was the case at Salomon Farm Park, Indiana where a ditch was moved to add sinuosity and reduce flooding. This construction activity created in a field being heavily disturbed and, subsequently, native plant seeds were sown in 2016. In 2018, we surveyed the restored field and an adjacent control field without disturbance. Species richness did not differ between the fields, but non-native and overall species diversity was greater in the restoration field. In the control field, abundance was dominated by <em>Poa pratensis </em>accounting for 74% of the individuals. In the restoration field, abundance was much more evenly distributed between the species. Less than a third of the species were shared between the restoration field and the control, and even fewer species were shared between the applied seed mix and the restoration field. The restoration effort at Salomon Farm Park produced disturbance that facilitated colonization of plants from surrounding communities, including increased evenness in non-native species. Sowing seeds may be effective in establishing plant communities in certain ecosystems, but allowing time for colonization may be just as important.</p>