Title: Plant distribution and diversity across an Ozark landscape
Abstract: The distribution, abundance, and diversity of plant species in a landscape are related to factors such as disturbance history, landform, and climate. In examining the potential effects of landscape structure on the distribution of plant species of the southeast Missouri Ozarks, we sampled a 10,000-m transect in a south-north direction. In September 1997, two 1 x 1 m plots were placed every 10 m along the transect to tally canopy cover, overstory type, coverage of all understory species, and micro-topographic features. We calculated Shannon and Simpson's diversity and species richness for all plots and used correlation and wavelet analyses to examine changes in these variables with elevation across different scales. Of the 332 species recorded along the transect, 104 species occurred only once. Desmodium nudiflorum and Parthenocissus quinquefolia were the two most frequent species (48.8 percent and 37.0 percent of plots, respectively), while 323 of the 332 species occurred within 30 species/plot) than any other plots along the transect. The patterns of patches of elevation and species diversity were most visible at the 1,800-m scale, but the spatial relationship between these patterns was best revealed at scales between 1,340 and 1,400 m. Changes in wavelet variance suggested that multiple scales should be examined when exploring potential influences of landscape structure on plant species.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 5
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