The
Ozark Highlands is a unique botanical transition zone where native prairie and
forest once co-existed, but conversion to managed agricultural landuse has severely reduced the extent of native tallgrass
prairie. Quantifying soil nutrient changes over time can contribute to improved
understanding of the importance of soil fertility in prairie restoration
success. The objective of this study was to
evaluate the effects of prairie ecosystem [i.e.,
chronosequence of four prairie restorations and a native prairie (NP)]
and soil moisture regime (SMR; aquic and udic) on the change in extractable
soil nutrients over a 12-yr period from 2005
to 2017 in the Ozark Highlands region of northwest Arkansas. Soil Ca content
decreased over time (P ≤ 0.05)
in the 17-year-old-aquic and NP-udic combinations, which did not differ and
averaged ?55.7 kg?ha?1?yr?1, but
did not change over time in all other ecosystem-SMR
combinations. Soil Na content also decreased over time (P ≤ 0.05) in the 17-year-old-aquic combination (?0.7 kg?ha
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