Wa'ahila Ridge; percent cover versus elevation for Megathyrsus maximus and Senna surattensis

2010). (Millar & Westfall 2010). Examined Sierra Nevada talus slopes and found that warmer, drier sites were less likely to support current pika populations than cooler wetter sites. Extant pika populations in the Southern Rockies are experiencing extreme climatic change. Maximum summer temperatures are indicated a warming trend. Despite these changes in summer temperature, there was no effect found of temperature on pika persistence in the study area. Although recent impact of temperature on pika populations does not appear universal throughout the species range, there is an obvious impact of precipitation becoming more consistent. It was found that water is the primary driver of pika persistence patterns in the study region. Not only were the four extirpation sites among the driest of the sites studied but the also lacked water sources for the pika. If present, these water sources could buffer pikas and the plant communities on which they depend from the effects of low precipitation (Millar & Westfall 2010). If low precipitation drives extirpation in the Southern Rockies, it would be expected that populations experiencing a decrease in annual precipitation due to modern climate change to be more prone to extirpation. However, this is not what is happening. The study sites have experienced relatively little change in precipitation between the periods of 1908-1979 and 1980-2007. The fact that sites experiencing decreasing precipitation, supports the evidence that pikas may seem contradictory with the finding that populations at dry sites are more prone to extirpation. It is crucial to monitor these locations in the coming years and decades, as continued drying trends could place the pika populations at high risk of future

Sixty five measurements were made for the Southwestern Grady Oak Savanna area and part of the Green Prairie, by sampling 7 of the transects based on the UW Arboretum grid. The first two transects were sampled every 10 meters but the 5 remainings were sampled every 50 meters, due to time concerns (Figure 10).

Germination of seeds, and early stages of growth are important determinants in interspecies competition (Mangla et al. 2011). Higher proportions of B. gracilis seedlings to B.rapa will allow B. gracilis to gain an advantage both in germination, and in development of its roots and shoots. B. gracilis can then establish itself and sequester resources (water, sunlight soil nutrients) for growth and survival before B. rapa. Additionally, it was predicted that the mean biomass (root and shoot) of B. gracilis would increase as the ratio of B. gracilis to B. rapa increased. Multiple roots of long length in B. gracilis will be favoured as they can better compete in water and nutrient acquisition against B. rapa (Craine and Dybzinski 2013). Increased ability to acquire nutrients thereby increases the availability of nutrients B. gracillis has to grow, increasing shoot length and thickness. On this basis, the mean height of B. gracilis was predicted to increase as the ratio of B. gracilis to B. rapa increased as

Vegetation is a key factor in determining the structure of an ecosystem. It determines many ecological parameters within a plant community such as microclimate, energy budged, photosynthesis, water regimes, surface runoff and soil temperature (Tappeiner and Cernusca, 1996). Vegetation of an area varies from place to place according to habitat heterogeneity of the area itself. The description and classification of the plant community in an ecosystem is known as Phytosociology (Braun-Blanquet, 1932; Odum, 1971). It’s an important characteristic in describing vegetation that offers a preliminary picture of the ecological character of the vegetation (Kershaw, 1973). Each site of study

Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) are an unbranched perennial plant that are primarily located in middle and eastern areas of North America. Wingstem grow in habitats that receive large amounts of sun and areas that are shaded. Wingstem thrive in areas with moist conditions, and receive periodic rainfall. Based on our knowledge of the chemical processes in plants, the Wingstem located in the sunlit areas will have greater reproduction, resulting in increased flowering rather than those in shaded locations. To test our hypothesis, we collected Wingstem in various habitats (sun and shaded). We then calculated the number of flowers, followed by weighing the total vegetation. The results demonstrate a significant difference between the number

The project is located at an elevation of ~730 m above mean sea level and within the Basin and Range physiographic province (BR). The BR is composed of high relief mountains or foothills separated by low-lying valleys and salt flats. The salt flats of the Amargosa do not support plant life, but Phreatophytes (deeply rooted plants) occur on their edges and near the adjacent gravel-dominated alluvial fans. Iodine bush (Allenrolfea occidentalis) grows closet to the salt flats, while saltgrass (Distichlis stricta) and arrowweed (Pluchea sericea) occur more distal. The dominant species in the salt flat-proximal areas is honey mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) that occurs as large stands. Sacatone grass (Sporobolus airoides) and desert holly (Atriplex hymenelytra) intergrown with

Our study was carried out within the forest reserve of the LT-TBFS Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Field Station (hereafter LT-TBFS), which is located in the southeastern Mexico (18º 35.077´ N; 95º 4.442´ W; 120-690 m.a.s.l.), in the southern portion of the State of Veracruz, on the windward foothills of the San Martin Volcano in the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas mountain range (altitudinal gradient 0-1680 m.a.s.l.) (García-Aguirre et al., 2010; González-Soriano et al., 1997) this mountain range is a physiographic province settled on the Coastal Slope of the Gulf of Mexico (Cervantes-Zamora et al., 1990). The entire extension of the LT-TBFS (640 ha) forms part of the core zone of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Los Tuxtlas”, which includes the largest area of the Los Tuxtlas region (CONANP-SEMARNAT, 1998). The climate regimen in the region is Am(f) (Köppen’s climate classification modified by García, 1998) with a mean annual temperature of 27 ˚ C and an average yearly precipitation of about 4500 mm.

The Arroyo Seco is located in Los Angeles County, California, it has wonderful variety of native species which including plants and animals. All these species are categorized to producer, lower level consumer, upper level consumer and decomposer, such as: Producers- Arroyo Willow, Alder, Beavertail cactus, Cottonwood and other. Lowel Level Consumers- Cochineal, Mourning Dove, Scrub Jay, wood rat and etcetera. Upper level consumer- Cliff swallow, Black Widow Spider, Cooper’s Hawk and other. Decomposer- Bracket fungus, Pill bug, Toadstool and etcetera. They are the key species and community in The Arroyo Seco’s ecosystem. Accordingly, The Arroyo Seco is in a Chaparral biome which is dominated by evergreen shrubs and majority plant species in

Savannas are important, it has a lot of fascinating plant and animals. It is also the home of a lot of fascinating plants and animals. The animals that live in the savanna would probably be extinct without the savanna because it's their home. They rely on this biome for food and water. The animals can't just go live somewhere else because their habitats are in the savanna and they’ve adapted their life to survival here. This paper will discuss and outline the important components of a savanna including the climate, landforms, location, and other important and interesting facts regarding the savannas across the world.

Coastal Prairies have decreased in size throughout the years due to things such as farming and housing developments. The need to protect and conserve what is left of the coastal prairie is very high. Invasive species such as the Bromus tectorum, cheatgrass found in northwestern USA, Andropogan gayanus, gamba grass found in Australia have been taking over the prairie from native species. Widespread invasive species in the prairie lowers forage quality, quantity of plants for livestock, and lowers native plant diversity. Coastal prairies that were maintained and enriched by fire regimes are now being taken over by invasive species after fires.

Its thin crown provides partial shade to coffee, tea, and cacao. It also is used as a windbreak for bananas. Trials in Hawaii have indicated its usefulness as an intercrop with eucalyptus, especially in wetter areas. After four years, eucalyptus grown with falcataria in a 50:50 mixture at a spacing of 2 x 2 m were 58% taller and 55% larger in DBH than in pure eucalyptus stands (Schubert 1985). In other trials with 34 and 50% falcataria, total biomass was equal to or better than that of pure stands (Schubert et al 1988).

near shallow reefs. The marine iguana related to the land iguana and is related to the green iguana, which

The objective of this experiment was to determine if there were phenotypic differences in Buddlei sp. leaves, in terms of surface area, weight, and thickness, depending on how much light they receive. In all three figures, the error bars overlapped, which suggests that the true means of the population could be the same. Thus, there is not a significant difference between sun and shade leaves regarding surface area, weight, and thickness. Since the data does not support the hypothesis of phenotypic plasticity, the null hypothesis was accepted. Possible explanations for these results could be that the sample size was too small to represent the entire population. Increasing sample size would reduce the standard deviation and standard

To collect data on the primary succession as new sand dunes form from the waters of Lake Michigan. To examine hypotheses relating to the progression of succession through facilitation and other species interactions and to examine how biotic and abiotic rigor change through time as succession proceeds. To further examine these concepts, we have gathered and conducted five tests. Our first experiment dealt with soil development, to show how soil changes and developments have advanced throughout the dunes. A second experiment has been taken to show the variations in diversity among the five dunes. The third was to examine percent coverage amongst stages to see how the species are influenced by their environment. A fourth to examine the proportions of grasses and forbs to understand the properties of grasses on late succession. Last, we examined how counts of focal species change with dune age among herbaceous species and woody species.

In the Edwards Plateau the estimated annual interception loss – that is, the proportion of precipitation that never reaches mineral soil – for a given site dominated by stoloniferous grass was 10.8% of annual precipitation, while a bunchgrass dominated site had an annual interception loss of 18.1%. Oak trees and the litter beneath the trees intercepted about 46% of annual precipitation (Thurow et al., 1987). This indicated that shifts in the kind or amount of vegetation affect interception.