The prairie is located on the Alverno College Campus immediately to the west of the Student Center parking lot. Purpose As an institution that values inquiry and active learning, we felt it was important for our students to have their own research site on campus so that they could make and test their own hypotheses on a relatively natural and complex site.
Students can now regularly work on the site without spending time on travel.
Other benefits include control over the management of the site and an increased level of student safety. In the future, we may use the site for activities involving local schools and youth groups. Some forbs are legumes which, with symbiotic microbes, enrich the soil with nitrogen, an important plant nutrient. Prairies grow in areas that have approximately 400-1000 mm of precipitation a year and have high summer soil temperatures. This means that the water tends to evaporate before it seeps too far into the soil.