Authors used a multiscale approach by studying the effects of soil type/fertilizer, burning, or mowing on species composition within both large- (10,000 m2) and small-scale (100 m2) experimental plots in the tallgrass prairie of Kansas. On the large-scale plots soil type was shown to be the important discriminator of plant communities with a separation of soil subgroups (Pachic Argiustolls and Udic Argiustolls) at the first classification level. As management treatments, burning and mowing differed in their effect on species richness, especially the representation and number of exotic species. Species composition of the small-scale plots was mainly affected by mowing, followed by fertilizer, then burning. Burning increased the abundance of some species (Andropogon scoparius) and decreased richness, but as an interaction with mowing or fertilizer. At the larger scale, mowing allowed the incursion of exotic species (Andropogon bladhii). Consistency at various spatial scales should only occur if the underlying mechanisms (soil depth, etc.) responsible for the variables of interest remain constant over those scales; a condition that is unlikely to be met under field conditions.
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