HR: 16:45h
AN: NB44C-06    [Abstracts]
TI: The effects of a Cattail invasion on a Great Lakes coastal marsh
AU: * Jankowski, K
EM: kjanko1@luc.edu
AF: Loyola University Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626 United States
AU: Shattuck, S C
EM: shattuck@umich.edu
AF: University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1115 United States
AU: Tuchman, N C
EM: ntuchma@luc.edu
AF: Loyola University Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626 United States
AB: Great Lakes coastal marshes have been increasingly invaded by aggressive exotic plant species, such as the cattail Typha x glauca. T. x glauca has replaced much of the native plant community in Cheboygan Marsh, a coastal marsh on Lake Huron. Investigations done in this marsh during Summer 2004 addressed the T. x glauca invasion impacts on several ecosystem attributes. Multiple physical, chemical, and biological parameters were measured along transects extending from the native community through the T. x glauca-dominated vegetation zone. As expected, species diversity was much lower in the T. x glauca stands (d=0.14) than in the native community (d=0.82). The T. x glauca zone was found to have 2.2 times higher aboveground biomass and large accumulations of dead plant litter averaging 1.25m deep. Light intensities decreased 3-fold, and temperature at the sediment-water interface fell 5°C under these litter masses. T. x glauca was also found to retain 2 to 7 times higher levels of nitrogen in its associated sediments than the native community. Further research is being conducted to determine how nitrogen accumulates in the T. x glauca zone and if this change in nitrogen cycling dynamics facilitates its invasion success.
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1890 Wetlands
DE: 9902 NABS Student Award Applied Research
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly