Results from 2012 Vegetation Monitoring in Prairie and Old Field Habitats Following Shrub Removal at the North Chicago Wetland Mitigation Site, Lake County, Illinois

This report focuses on results from vegetation monitoring in terrestrial plant communities during 2012 and compares trends among reference prairie, transect prairie, and old field habitats. There are four main questions: 1. What are the site trends in species composition, total richness, and floristic quality and, for old field and prairie habitats (combining reference prairie and transect prairie habitats), what are the changes in species composition and abundance? 2. Based on 2012 sample data, are there significant between-subjects differences (vegetation types) with regard to ground layer and shrub/sapling parameters (e.g., composition, species richness, diversity, and cover - see Methods for full list and parameter definitions)? 3. Are there significant within-subject differences (year) in these parameters since the 2009 baseline data for each vegetation type and when (what year) do the difference occur? 4. What are the between-subjects and within-subjects interactions (i.e., vegetation type x sample year) for selected vegetation parameters since 2009?