Date of Award:
5-2003
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Ecology
Committee Chair(s)
James W. Haefner
Committee
James W. Haefner
Committee
Richard S. Inouye
Committee
James A. MacMahon
Abstract
The importance and mechanisms of species interactions are undetermined in most successional systems. I used correlations and null modeling to detect pairwise species associations between 33 plant species in the first nine years of secondary succession after logging and burning in a western Oregon Cascade forest. I tested for correlations between each species and soil nutrients, nonvegetative ground cover, and surrounding vegetation. More positive than negative associations were found at all sampling times. The proportion of positive associations decreased and negative associations increased through time. Up to 42% of associations at a sampling time were explicable by shared positive correlations with surrounding vegetation. One dominant shrub species, Berberis nervosa, may be primarily responsible for the decline of four early seral species. The associations indicated diffuse facilitation is of primary importance in the stressful early successional environment, and microsite availability and interspecific competition become more important later.
Checksum
ab1237eb2ed9d580a9c91aae46e2c9a2
Recommended Citation
Rozzell, Lara R., "Species Pairwise Associations Over Nine Years of Secondary Succession: Assessing Alternative Explanations and Successional Mechanisms" (2003). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 8318.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/8318
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