Restoration of a savanna habitat in Point Pelee National Park, southwestern Ontario

The impact of human activity in Point Pelee National Park has altered the plant communities. Most of the red cedar savanna communities have been altered by unchecked succession. In 1996, two successionally advanced RCS sites were chosen as test rehabilitation sites. Baseline vegetation data were collected and non-native woody vegetation was cleared. Following site clearance it became evident that light infiltration would still be limited due to high red cedar densities. Consequently, an experimental treatment involving manipulation of red cedar densities was also introduced. Fire, which is historically linked to these plant communities, was predicted to promote the germination of any native seeds persisting in the seed bank and a prescribed burn was carried out in June 1997. The impact of burning and red cedar density treatments were tested using a split-plot experimental design. An additional soil disking treatment was carried out after the prescribed burn in 1997 to test for the presence of buried native seed at depth. Two other successionally advanced RCS sites at Point Pelee were used as in-park reference sites and an RCS plant community on Long Point Nature Preserve was used as an external reference site. Collectively, they represented a range of successional stages as indicated by the ages of red cedar trees based on cores from which tree rings were counted. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...