Quantifying Plant Community Shifts in Response to Fire Across Topographic Gradients
| dc.contributor.advisor | Lucas Silva Brooke Hunter Hilary Rose Dawson | en |
| dc.contributor.advisor | ||
| dc.contributor.advisor | ||
| dc.contributor.author | Kleiner, Delaney | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-09-28T22:20:31Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-09-28T22:20:31Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-05 | |
| dc.description | 45 pages | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Southwestern Oregon is characterized by complex patterns of plant communities across environmental gradients. Previous research has found the structure and composition of vegetation to be related to the complex geology of this region. In this study, we explore the relation between topography and plant communities by asking if and how vegetation changes across ridgelines of varying steepness. We selected six ridgelines with a gradient of slope steepness (steep to gentle) in Rabbit Mountain, Riddle, Oregon, and used quadrat and line-point intercept techniques to quantify vegetation cover by species at each site. We assessed the differences and similarities between plant communities with NMDS (non-metric multidimensional scaling) analysis. We found plant communities on steep ridgelines are significantly different than communities on gentle ridgelines. Plant habit varied significantly across topographical gradient, as abundance of woody species was greater on steep ridgelines while herbaceous plants occurred more frequently on gentle ridgelines. Studying how landscapes exist in relation to vegetation deepens our understanding of the connectedness of Earth’s processes, emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science, and further informs forestry management practices in a time of increasing climate change. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/27518 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US | en |
| dc.subject | Environmental Science | en |
| dc.subject | Plant Communities | en |
| dc.subject | Biodiversity | en |
| dc.subject | Topography | en |
| dc.subject | Wildfire | en |
| dc.subject | Landscape | en |
| dc.subject | Southwestern Oregon | en |
| dc.title | Quantifying Plant Community Shifts in Response to Fire Across Topographic Gradients | en |
| dc.type | Thesis / Dissertation | en |