Research
Research Priorities  |  Research Reports
The Living Roadway Trust Fund was established to promote the implementation of integrated roadside vegetation management (IRVM) activities--including the preservation, establishment, and maintenance of native vegetation--along Iowa's roadsides.  To better understand IRVM, and ensure its success, a portion of LRTF appropriations is used to fund IRVM-related research.  Through the years, the LRTF has supported the study of a wide variety of IRVM issues: from roadside butterfly habitat to isozyme variation in native roadside plant species.

A request for research proposals is occasionally announced.  Investigator-initiated research is also considered for funding.  Specific requirements for research proposals are included in the LRTF Grant Application.  Deadline for submission of proposals is August 31.

The following research proposals have been accepted for funding in 2008:

  1. Effects of seeding date, priority effects, and native cover crops on prairie establishment
    Brian Wilsey
     

  2. Relating plant distributions to species richness and invasibility in prairie restorations
    Kathryn Yurkonis, Brian Wilsey, and Kirk Moloney
     

  3. Influence of the exotic plant, crown vetch (Coronilla varia), on small mammal diversity and abundance in roadside prairies
    Ryan Rehmeier
     

  4. Abundance and persistence of tallgrass prairie forbs seeded into an established stand of grasses after ten years
    Dave Williams and Daryl Smith
     

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