Evaluating plant community response to sea level rise and anthropogenic drying: Can life stage and competitive ability be used as indicators in guiding conservation actions?

Wendelberger, Kristie S.

doi:10.25148/etd.fidc000764

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Our map shows that the ENP coastal communities are still quite diverse, maintaining a complex matrix of black, red, and white mangrove forests, halophyte prairie, two buttonwood communities (glycophyte and halophyte), and tropical hardwood hammock. The Buttonwood Embankment [ 26 , 27 ], where the upland communities grow, is a higher elevation strip along Florida’s southern coast. To the north of the embankment, there is over 8km of lower elevation land before elevations return to levels like the embankment’s highest locations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Florida’s southern coast in Everglades National Park (ENP), FL, USA, has three mangrove and four coastal plant community types that are distributed across the landscape as a response to elevation, salinity, and inundation time [ 7 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. The Buttonwood Embankment, which harbors these communities, is an approximately 60 × 1 km 2 stretch of elevated land averaging 45 cm above sea level along the southern tip of Florida [ 29 , 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using Bi-Seasonal WorldView-2 Multi-Spectral Data and Supervised Random Forest Classification to Map Coastal Plant Communities in Everglades National Park

Wendelberger

Gann

Richards

2018

Sensors

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Coastal plant communities are being transformed or lost because of sea level rise (SLR) and land-use change. In conjunction with SLR, the Florida Everglades ecosystem has undergone large-scale drainage and restoration, altering coastal vegetation throughout south Florida. To understand how coastal plant communities are changing over time, accurate mapping techniques are needed that can define plant communities at a fine-enough resolution to detect fine-scale changes. We explored using bi-seasonal versus single-season WorldView-2 satellite data to map three mangrove and four adjacent plant communities, including the buttonwood/glycophyte community that harbors the federally-endangered plant Chromolaena frustrata. Bi-seasonal data were more effective than single-season to differentiate all communities of interest. Bi-seasonal data combined with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data were used to map coastal plant communities of a coastal stretch within Everglades National Park (ENP). Overall map accuracy was 86%. Black and red mangroves were the dominant communities and covered 50% of the study site. All the remaining communities had ≤10% cover, including the buttonwood/glycophyte community. ENP harbors 21 rare coastal species threatened by SLR. The spatially explicit, quantitative data provided by our map provides a fine-scale baseline for monitoring future change in these species’ habitats. Our results also offer a method to monitor vegetation change in other threatened habitats.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Bi-Seasonal WorldView-2 Multi-Spectral Data and Supervised Random Forest Classification to Map Coastal Plant Communities in Everglades National Park

Wendelberger

Gann

Richards

2018

Sensors

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“…Post-storm disturbances can cause an influx of sea water at the site (Saha et al 2009, Saha et al 2015. The ENP site consists of a predominant canopy of buttonwood trees, Conocarpus erectus, with occasional occurrence of other woody plants such as Sideroxylon celastrinum and Randia aculeata, and an understory of herbaceous plants including Alternanthera flavescens, Chromolaena frustrata, and Dicliptera sexangularis (Saha et al 2015, Wendelberger 2016. The TBH habitat is considered a threatened habitat type and is shrinking due to increasing salinity and sea-level rise at the ENP (Saha et al 2009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparisons of habitat types and host tree species across a threatened Caribbean orchid’s core and edge distribution

Borrero

Alvarez²,

Prieto³

et al. 2022

J. Trop. Ecol.

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Tropical forest ecosystems are rich in epiphytes that make up a significant portion of the overall plant diversity. However, epiphytic plants are often understudied due to inaccessibility and the lack of basic ecological information poses challenges to their conservation, particularly in a time of rapid global change. The mule-ear orchid, Trichocentrum undulatum (Orchidaceae), is a large flowering epiphyte found in southern Florida (USA), the Greater, and Lesser Antilles including Cuba. The plant is Florida state-listed as endangered with only one remaining small and declining population in a coastal mangrove forest due to historical extraction and habitat destruction. Currently, there is no systematic understanding of the species’ habitat requirements. To fill this void, we compared the habitat and microhabitat of the species on its northern distribution edge (southern Florida) and the core range (in Cuba). The Florida population has only one host species, Conocarpus erectus, found in one habitat type. This is in sharp contrast to the 92 documented hosts and 5 habitats across 8 provinces in Cuba. Based on our findings from Cuba, we suggest conservation and restoration options in Florida by proposing potential suitable host plants and habitats. Proactive restoration of this species will help to ease the threat from sea-level rise to the species by securing and expanding range margins.

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“…The results presented here demonstrate that L. arenicola seed germination is susceptible to relatively low levels of salinity. Similarly, Wendelberger [62] found low concentration salinity-induced inhibition of germination for a suite of coastal species occurring in south Florida. Furthermore, Moghaddam et al [63] reported that low levels of salinity (5.9 to 11.7 ppth NaCl) considerably reduced germination and subsequent seedling mass of Linum usitatissimum.…”

Section: Seed Functional Traitsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Enhancing Conservation of a Globally Imperiled Rockland Herb (Linum arenicola) through Assessments of Seed Functional Traits and Multi-Dimensional Germination Niche Breadths

Pérez

Chumana

2020

Plants

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Humans currently face an extraordinary period of plant biodiversity loss. One strategy to stem further losses involves the development of species-level recovery plans that guide conservation actions. Seeds represent an important component in the life history of plants and are crucial for conservation activities. Yet, most recovery plans contain meager seed biology information. We set out to examine seed functional traits and germination niche breadth of Linum arenicola seeds exposed to a range of thermal, photoperiodic, and salinity gradients to gain perspectives on the seed biology of this endangered species that may inform conservation decision making and assist recovery plan development. We found that fresh seeds possess non-deep physiological dormancy, which may be alleviated via a four-week dry after-ripening treatment. The germination response of non-dormant seeds is subsequently promoted by constant rather than alternating temperatures. The optimum germination temperature range is 20–22 °C. Non-dormant seeds do not possess an absolute light requirement for germination, but are sensitive to low levels of salinity (EC50 = 6.34 ppth NaCl). The narrow thermal and salinity germination niche breadths reported here suggest a specialized reproductive strategy that may require careful consideration when planning ex and in situ conservation activities.

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Evaluating plant community response to sea level rise and anthropogenic drying: Can life stage and competitive ability be used as indicators in guiding conservation actions?

Cited by 3 publications

References 33 publications

Using Bi-Seasonal WorldView-2 Multi-Spectral Data and Supervised Random Forest Classification to Map Coastal Plant Communities in Everglades National Park

Using Bi-Seasonal WorldView-2 Multi-Spectral Data and Supervised Random Forest Classification to Map Coastal Plant Communities in Everglades National Park

Comparisons of habitat types and host tree species across a threatened Caribbean orchid’s core and edge distribution

Enhancing Conservation of a Globally Imperiled Rockland Herb (Linum arenicola) through Assessments of Seed Functional Traits and Multi-Dimensional Germination Niche Breadths

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