Publication Date
2022
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Duvall, Melvin R.
Degree Name
M.S. (Master of Science)
Legacy Department
Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract
Over the course of ecological restoration efforts, it has been observed that, despite restoration activities, species richness sometimes declines in a given habitat. While this response can be interpreted to mean that restoration activities are ineffective, other measures known as Phylogenetic Diversity Metrics can show that the community is actually becoming more diverse. Utilizing plant inventories collected as transect data from 1992-2021 of five wetland sites under various types of restoration in northern Illinois, a regional wetland community phylogeny was assembled. The community phylogeny was then analyzed for phylogenetic diversity measures through this 30-year period across the five sites. Additionally, water sampling was performed on the five properties for analyses of water chemistry. Linearized regression analyses were performed on the phylogenetic diversity metrics. Two of the three metrics showed significant increases in spite of a slight decrease in species richness through time. Additionally, species lists showed a decrease in percent non-native species over time. One of the active measures of restoration across the five wetland sites was the removal of non-native species, consistent with the finding that the proportion of native to non-native plant species was generally increasing through time. This correlation with increasing phylogenetic diversity metrics suggests that restoration activities have some degree of targeted effectiveness on wetland plant communities.
Recommended Citation
Foster, Nicholas T., "Wetland Restoration Efforts Result in increasing Phylogenetic Diversity" (2022). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 7039.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/7039
Extent
41 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
