Managing native grasslands – Introduction

• Introduction
• Background
• Study Design
• Data Collection
• Analysis
• Data

John and Ian were interested in finding a good way to maintain a diverse range of native flowering plants in Australian grasslands. The maintenance strategy needed to minimise weed invasion. He investigated different nutrient levels and mowing frequencies.

John and Ian worked on the study with Dr. Peter May from Burnley College; John worked at Burnley at the time, and Ian Shears works for the City of Melbourne. The project was funded by the Australian Flora Foundation.

The key question John and Ian wanted to answer was:

How do different nutrient levels and mowing frequencies affect the growth of native flower species in native grassland?

Timeline

July, 1997	Study design
June, 1998	Plots are planted
February, 1999	Data collection starts (First harvest)
January, 2000	Second harvest
January, 2001	Third harvest
February, 2001	Data analysis (Preliminary)

Click the play button to hear about the study. The videos on this site were taken in late 2000, between the second and third harvests.