DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Effect of Plant Dispersal on Ecosystem Function

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Plant communities are the main source of energy for the rest of life. Habitat loss and fragmentation -- the conversion of large areas into isolated smaller areas -- threaten the diversity of plant communities and ecosystem functions (essential services provided by plants). Thus, it important that we understand how to maintain plant communities and how they help ecosystems function. This project explores how seed dispersal in fragmented habitats helps sustain plant diversity and promote ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycles and decomposition rates. Investigators will examine whether habitat fragmentation has an unusually large impact on the abundance of plant species that are poor seed dispersers and, if so, how loss of these species may result in loss of ecosystem function. Scientists working on this project will engage with the public through talks, a workshop, and internship opportunities. Results will help inform the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and their mission of conservation. Investigators will study impacts of habitat fragmentation on plant communities and ecosystem functions, using a set of islands in Lake Strom Thurmond, South Carolina. Plant communities, plant chemical and physical attributes, and soil properties will be measured on 20 islands of different levels of spatial isolation (near shore versus far from shore) and historic disturbance. Specifically, investigators will quantify the abundance and diversity of plant species, leaf properties of those species, soil nitrogen availability, and microbial decomposition rates. These data will be used to test the hypothesis that spatial isolation and disturbance affect ecosystem function by altering plant species composition. Statistical models will test 1) whether ecosystem carbon and nutrient fluxes are a function of spatial isolation, disturbance history, and leaf properties; and 2) whether dispersal limitation caused by island spatial isolation can drive functional composition.