Kirill Langer
Vegetation Ecology
Summer Semester July 2013
University of Colorado Mountain Research Station
Plant Species Diversity in theSubalpine Elk Meadow
Introduction
- North facing slopes are wetter on average than southfacing ones, due to less snow accumulation (Hinckleyet. al 2012)
-Larger and longer exposure to sun on angled groundversus flat ground because of the larger surface area(Bennie et. al 2006)
-The Elk Meadow is in the subalpine
-Plant distributions
-Does topography and aspect determine thesedistributions?
Introduction
-Assess diversity of plant species in the Elk Meadow at theMRS
-The Elk Meadow has an East, Flat, and South part
-Its elevation is 10,000 feet
•Question: How does aspect and
angle of slope impact plant
diversity at South facing,
East facing, and Flat areas at
the subalpine Elk Meadow?
The Elk Meadow (Google Maps 2013)
Introduction
•Hypothesis: The East and South facing slopeswill have a larger species diversity than the flatarea
–I hypothesized that slope increases plant diversity
Methods
•East facing, South facing, and Flat areas at theElk Meadow in the subalpine
•Six 20 X 50 cm Daubenmire plots per area
•Number of individuals of each species
•My data does not accurately represent theentire subalpine zone on the Coloradan frontrange, because of pseudo replication
–However it is an accurate profile of the meadow
Methods
•I used the Jaccard’s Index to quantify the similaritiesin species diversity between the areas
•I looked at the species diversity differencesbetween sites with a ANOVA and t-tests
Results
18 Species in total
Results
•The two species most representative of the three areas wereYarrow (Achillea millefolium) and Sedge (Carex Parryi)
•Each were present at nearly every site
ANOVA Two Factor withReplication
P-values:
Topography: 0.95
Plant Spp: 0.37
Interaction: 0.62
Results
•The total species counts between the areaswere similar
Median: 5
Mode: 5
Mean: 4.94
Results
Single Factor ANOVA
P-value: 0.09
Individual t-tests showedno significant differences
Results
Jaccard’s Index:
East
Flat
South
50%
29.4%
40%
Similarity
Discussion
•Jaccard’s index found that sloped sites are not moresimilar to each other in species richness than to the flatsite
•The ANOVA and t-tests showed that none of the areasspecies compositions were significantly different
- This indicates angle of slope and aspect do not significantly affectspecies diversity
•This study is inconclusive, but future studies of aspectsinfluence on diversity should aim for areas with largerslopes
•If I were to do this again, I would sample more areas, atmultiple sites
Conclusions
•The subalpine Elk Meadow is dominated byYarrow and Sedge
•Aspect and slope angle do not significantlyaffect plant diversity at the Elk Meadow
•My advice for vegetation diversity researchersinterested in similar questions
Questions
Do you have any thoughts orquestions about my project?
References
1. Bennie, J. Hill, M. Baxter, R. Huntley, B. Influence ofslope and aspect on long-term vegetation change inBritish chalk grasslands. Journal of Ecology 94 (2): 355–368. 2006.
2. Hinckley, E.-L. S., Ebel, B. A., Barnes, R. T., Anderson, R.S., Williams, M. W., and Anderson, S. P.: Aspect control ofwater movement on hillslopes near the rain-snowtransition of the Colorado Front Range, US, Hydrol.Process. in review, 2012.
3. Mueller-Dombois, D. Ellenberg, H. Aims and Methodsof Vegetation Ecology. The Blackburn Press. Caldwell,New Jersey US. 2002. 62-63.