PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #62: Vegetation change: Succession, recovery, facilitation. Presiding: S. Franklin.
Thursday, August 9, 2001. 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Hall of Ideas G.
The effects of water table depths on vegetation development in an abandoned sand mine site in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Wilcox, Christina1, Choi, Young1, 1
ABSTRACT- We investigated the effects of water table depths on vegetation development in an abandoned sand mine in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. According to a DCA (Detrended Correspondence Analysis) the vegetation was ordinated into an open prairie (dominated by Panicum dichotomiflorum, Schizachyrium scoparium, and Opuntia humifusa) and a woodland plant communities (represented by Populus deltoides, Quercus spp., Rhus toxicodendron, Equisetum spp., and Aster spp.). The woodland understory has likely been facilitated by its higher water table (132.49cm ± 11.75 from soil surface) forming a higher canopy cover (10.2%) by woody species and higher diversity (H'=2.05) of herbaceous species by providing a partial shade in comparison with the open prairie with lower water table (243.64cm ± 20.89 from soil surface), lower canopy cover (3.5%), and lower species diversity (H'=1.84).
KEY WORDS: vegetation , development, water, table