Life Sciences Commons^™

Investigating The Role Of Plant Traits And Interactions In Emergent Wetland Nutrient Removal, Andrew Ryan Sample

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing wetland restoration in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley has been identified as a method to reduce nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico. Wetlands have historically been used to treat water through processes facilitated by wetland plants, and relatively few species and plant traits have been identified as important in carrying out these processes. This study focuses on some of those species and traits and aims to identify species differences and plant traits that may be important for wetland nutrient mitigation. Chapter I provides background information on nutrient pollution, wetland biogeochemical mechanisms for nutrient sequestration, and the focal species …

A Flora Of Coyote Ridge And Flat, Inyo County, California, Martin Purdy

CGU Theses & Dissertations

California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range contains a disproportionate share of the state’s plant diversity and is one of the most floristically diverse regions of its size in the United States. The high Sierra Nevada, in particular, has been identified as an important center of species richness and endemism within California. Anthropogenic climate warming is expected to disproportionately affect mountain ecosystems, and models have predicted serious habitat contraction and extirpation for many alpine plant taxa. A specimen-based inventory of the vascular and non-vascular plants of Coyote Ridge and Flat was conducted to establish baseline data for one such sensitive alpine and …

The Tensile Root Strength Of Emergent Coastal Macrophytes, Lauris Olivia Hollis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spartina patens is a dominant emergent macrophyte in fresh, intermediate, and brackish marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of United States where its biomechanical properties are a key component of wetland health and resilience. Its root biomass and tensile root strength are essential for anchorage, erosion protection, and are important determinants of soil strength. Nutrients and the herbicide atrazine are suspected of negatively impacting this wetland plant and others. The objectives of this study were to: 1) ascertain the tensile root strength of five emergent coastal macrophytes in coastal estuaries, and 2) test the effects of nutrient addition, atrazine …

Dispersal: A Multidisciplinary Investigation Of Plant Life, Alexandra E. Arzt

Theses and Dissertations

Using plants as a basis for exploring the interstices between the human and nonhuman, this thesis investigates ideas of awareness, intelligence, deep time, animism, and the fluctuating human perception of the agency of Nature. It outlines environmental art practices since the 1950s involving vegetal life. In addition, the paper provides a critical analysis of plant perception of Jakob von Uexküll’s work and theories of vital materialism and “critical plant studies” while noting recent studies in plant neurobiology. In my work, plants become active participants via their movement, seeding, and smell. This study takes the form of imitation, purposeful symbiosis, anthropomorphism, …

Habitat Assessment Of Two Narrowly Endemic Plant Species, Ozark Spiderwort (Tradescantia Ozarkana) E. S. Anderson And Woods. And Newton's Larkspur (Delphinium Newtonianum) D. M. Moore, Autumn Lynn Coffey Olsen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The threat of biodiversity loss is upon us with the onset of climate change and our ever-demanding needs of the Earth's resources for a rapidly growing human population. Species highly vulnerable to loss are those limited in abundance and distribution, or those with reduced genetic diversity. Efforts to actively conserve a sensitive species require effectual data on the probable causes of their vulnerability. Two species of concern, Delphinium newtonianum and Tradescantia ozarkana, are globally rare endemic vascular plant species found only in the Interior Highlands of North America. In an attempt to understand the causes for their endemism, habitat …

The Vascular Flora Of Greater San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, Sula E. Vanderplank

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The plants of San Quintín (Baja California, Mexico) were documented through intensive fieldwork and the collection of herbarium specimens to create a checklist of species. This region is home to a diverse flora with high levels of local endemism and many rare plants. The flora documented in this study was compared to historical records from the region and shows the impact of agriculture and urbanization on the plants, including several extirpated species. A study of the perennial vegetation using a 1 km grid provides species distribution data for 140 native species, which were assessed to highlight areas of significant species …

Annotated Checklist Of The Vascular Plants Of Washington County, Utah, Susan Elizabeth Meyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis is comprised of two parts, the annotated checklist of plants and the explanatory text which precedes it.

The checklist includes entries for the 1,207 vascular plant species known to occur in Washington county. each entry consists of species name, floristic component classification, community type occurrence, range termination information, specimen citations, and in some cases notes and relevant synonymy.

The explanatory text includes a discussion of the methods used in the preparation of the checklist, a description of the study area, a conspectus of botanical research in the area, and a summary of the systematic and phytogeographic affiliations of …

The Riparian Vegetation Of Swauk Creek, Edward L. Schneider

All Master's Theses

An investigation was made to document the structure and composition of the flora along Swauk Creek, a riparian transect into Central Washington's Cascade Range. Distributions of the major species are discussed and a key has been constructed to facilitate identification of the riparian associations.