Evaluating Vegetative Communities by Edaphic Conditions at the West Chicago Prairie, West Chicago, Illinois

Identifier3.62622

TypeArticle

Date created1990

Appeared InTMA Records Box 109, Folder 48

AbstractA network of water table observation wells and soil temperature monitoring sites was established across a topographic gradient at West Chicago Prairie. Observation wells were set in autumn of 1989. Soil temperature monitoring sites were set in spring of 1990. The wells were set at a depth of 150 cm; temperature probes were set at 10 cm, 30 cm, and 50 cm. All data were monitored weekly. Monitoring sites were established to correlate edaphic conditions of hydric and hydric-associated soils and vegetative communities within the prairie. Water table elevation data related well to the distribution of hydric soils and hydrophytic vegetation. There were no significant trends in soil temperatures collected in 1990. The water table and soil temperature data collected in this study are part of a larger network of such data being collected in northeastern Illinois. This is an effort to better understand edaphic conditions of various sites and to better define the growing season of these sites for wetland delineations.