Plant Growth Form Effects on North and South Carolina Species Abundance Distribution Patterns

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Orndahl, Kathleen
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Environment and Ecology

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The distribution of species abundance throughout a flora begs important questions about how communities are organized which can in turn lead to important discoveries about how communities are organized. Many studies have investigated the distribution of species abundance at a number of different scales, but none have made a clear distinction between the relative abundances of woody and herbaceous taxa within a flora. I investigated the species abundance distribution of the Carolina Vegeation Survey data for North and South Carolina, with a specific eye on the previously noted phenomenon of woody taxa (trees and lianas in particular) occurring predominantly at high abundances (proportions of plots) as compared to herbaceous taxa. Analysis of data showed that trees and lianas do indeed seem to represent a disproportionate number of the most abundant species. Furthermore, these woody taxa are able to tolerate and utilize a wider range of soil resources than herbaceous taxa. On a case-by-case basis, a larger range for a specific soil property did not necessarily correlate with higher proportion of plots occupied, but given the high abundance and habitat generalism of trees and lianas in the flora, the congregation of many wide ranges for a variety of soil properties likely does contribute to higher proportion of plots occupied. More potential causes need to be investigated, however, to fully explain this pattern.

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	Thesis	2019-05-18	Public	Download