Patagonia/Sonoita Creek Preserve Sacaton Restoration

Big sacaton (Sporobolus wrightii) once covered riparian floodplains throughout the southwestern United States and northern Sonora, Mexico. Today, these grasslands occupy less than 5% of their previous range. This restoration project evaluated the role of arbuscular mycorrhizae in the establishment and survival of sacaton at the Nature Conservancy's Patagonia/Sonoita Creek preserve near Patagonia, Arizona. The project evaluated the efficacy of using different sized transplants grown under greenhouse conditions and how mycorrhizae affected their subsequent survival in abandoned agricultural fields. Results shown that pre-inoculated plants showed greater growth and survival rates one year after transplantation than their un-inoculated counterparts.