| Abstract Detail
Ecological Section Van Kley, James [1], Nolte, Brenna [2]. Bottomland Forest Vegetation Changes and Exotic Species at Caddo Lake Texas, USA: 1995-2012. Caddo Lake, on the Texas-Louisiana, USA, border includes an extensive complex of bottomland forest and Taxodium distichum swamps and is an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention. In 1995 we established permanent plots and described wetland plant communities along a hydrological gradient. In 2005 and 2009 we re-sampled the swamp portions of the data set to document invasions of exotic species including Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) and Salvinia molesta (giant salvinia) but did not re visit the higher-elevation bottomland and mesic forest plots. In 2011 and 2012 we revisited these plots in addition to the swamps in order observe possible floristic shifts in them with particular focus on changes in the the abundance and distribution of Triadica sebifera (Chinese tallow tree) and other potentially invasive exotic species. Ordination results indicated that while overall vegetation shifts since 1995 were less dramatic for the bottomland and mesic plots than for the swamps, significantly more of them had populations of Chinese tallow tree in 2012 than in 1995 and larger tallow tree individuals were present than in 1995. Broader Impacts:
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image galleries documenting the flora and descriptions of the habitat types for the region (Texas Pineywoods) where the study took place
1 - Stephen F. Austin State University, Biology, PO Box 13003, Nacogdoches, TX, N/A, 75962, USA
2 - Stephen F. Austin State University, Biology, Nacogdoches, TX, 75962, USA
Keywords:
Bottomland forest
invasive species
Triadica sebifera
vegetation change.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Grand Salon A - D/Riverside Hilton
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2013
Time: 5:45 PM
Number: PEC013
Abstract ID:403
Candidate for Awards:None |
