(National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2019, 2019) Rhoades, Benjamin; Rush, Elizabeth; Wood, Thomas C.; van der Ham, Joris L.
The Piedmont prairie ecosystem includes communities of forbs and grasses. The Piedmont of Northern Virginia is fragmented and regularly disturbed. Landowners in Fauquier County, Virginia have placed former agricultural land under conservation easements. Different restoration techniques are being applied to transition these fields to native grasslands habitat. We aim to better understand the effects of using different restoration techniques by comparing the plant community of these restored prairie ecosystems, with a focus on non-native plants.