Dear Ecolog Community, I have had the good fortune of participating in a long-term Trillium monitoring project that has been collecting data since 1990. My colleague established four 5m*5m plots, recording the number of single leaf, triple leaf, and triple leaf with flower individuals. The reason for the field plots was to tract what happens to an early spring herb following canopy disruption (Hurricane Hugo). Problems: (1) we are not able to flag individuals in the field because the agency that manages the property does not want the flags disrupting visitors nature views while walking on an elevated boardwalk; (2) no one has quantified the canopy cover; and (3) the orientation of the subplots within plots have not been consistent for several sampling periods (prior to my participation). I may be able to go back through the original data sheets and correct the subplots, providing much finer resolution of Trillium growth over the 20+ years. There does seem to be some micro-topological differences within the larger plots that could explain why there are plants in some, but not all subplots. I am looking for suggestions on (1) how to quantify the micro-topological features in these plots and (2) how to handle the long-term plot level demography data. Ordinations of the larger plots over time (for all three life stages or each stage separately) can provide some information, but surely there must be a better way to look at these data. Last year wild hogs made it to this preserve, so I am really in need of great suggestions on how to look at these plots over the past 20 years and into the future with hogs (likely to destroy the populations completely).
Danny J. Gustafson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Biology, The Citadel, Charleston, SC 29409 (843)953-7876 [email protected]
