Woody plant communities of three urban wetlands and the success of an invasive shrub (Lonicera maackii) over natural and experimental flooding gradients. Meghan Rhea Langley University of LouisvilleFollow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology CommonsThis Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact thinkir@louisville.edu. Recommended CitationLangley, Meghan Rhea, "Woody plant communities of three urban wetlands and the success of an invasive shrub (Lonicera maackii) over natural and experimental flooding gradients." (2016 Globally, wetlands are known for providing important ecosystem services that enhance the quality of human life and regulating global biogeochemical cycles. Despite the wide recognition of their value, temperate forested wetlands are the least protected type of ecosystem world-wide, and are threatened by human activities such as logging and development. The ecology of forested wetlands remaining in urbanized areas is impacted by a multitude of anthropogenic threats, including fragmentation (which decreases the amount of interior habitat and increases edge habitat), hydrologic modification (ditching and draining of wetlands) and the incursion of invasive species (which are frequently introduced by human activities).In the first study presented in this dissertation (Chapter 2), I examined how woody plant communities of three urban wetlands-the dominant biota of these ecosystemschanged along edge-to-interior and hydrologic gradients. Detailed measurements of elevation, surface water levels, and ground water levels were made to estimate the number of days each transect was flooded. The three study forests were surveyed in transects along edge-to-interior gradients (0-60 meters from the forest edge) and were The results of these three studies underscore the threats posed by invasive plant and insect species to the native woody plant community of these study systems.Evidence from the field and mesocosm studies suggest that flooding does pose a barrier to L. maackii colonization, but that higher elevation "safe sites" (with shorter flooding durations and/or depths) may enhance the ability of this species to invade wetter areas.
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