Its close proximity to class rooms and laboratories allows students and professors to have easy access to live specimens in season, and good quality herbarium specimens in the off-season. The small size of the prairie also allows for the study of various management techniques within relatively controlled conditions which can help prevent costly mistakes in larger projects. This prairie can also be used in studies on the effect of size on ecosystem function. During Fall Semester 1995, a graduate class in Restoration Ecology in the Department of Animal Ecology used the Science II Prairie for a class project. They inventoried the plants , established a reference collection of herbarium specimens, mapped the distribution of some of the more important grasses and forbs, and initiated experimental management practices designed to help increase the diversity of native prairie species and control the invasion of woody and alien species .
Study continues in present classes.
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