In the current human-caused biodiversity crisis, understanding how to conserve both individual rare species and overall biodiversity of plant communities is pressing. Wetland ecosystems exist along well-described stress gradients, making them ideal for testing the drivers of different aspects of biodiversity at several scales. Tidal wetlands in particular have a limited pool of potentially occurring species, making diversity investigations tractable. In addition, there are several rare plant species that only occur in tidal wetlands, typically in the more diverse high marsh zone. This combination of factors makes wetlands excellent systems for studying environmental control of biodiversity patterns.
As the current biodiversity crisis and climate change both intensify, it is crucial to understand how to conserve rare plants and overall biodiversity across scales to allow effective conservation action. Our research contributes to this understanding by focusing on what conditions maximize plant diversity and what influences rare plant populations. See below for project summaries addressing the overarching questions we're pursuing:
What controls rare plant distribution and abundance in coastal ecosystems?
How do environmental gradients structure wetland plant diversity?
As the current biodiversity crisis and climate change both intensify, it is crucial to understand how to conserve rare plants and overall biodiversity across scales to allow effective conservation action. Our research contributes to this understanding by focusing on what conditions maximize plant diversity and what influences rare plant populations. See below for project summaries addressing the overarching questions we're pursuing:
What controls rare plant distribution and abundance in coastal ecosystems?
How do environmental gradients structure wetland plant diversity?
What controls rare plant distribution and abundance in coastal ecosystems?
|
|
Soft Salty Bird's-Beak. This project, funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, quantified the distribution, abundance, and genetic diversity of Soft Salty Bird's-Beak (Chloropyron molle subsp. molle). We are wrapping up the analysis and writing phase in 2023.
Antioch Dunes Evening Primrose. This project, funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, quantified the distribution, abundance, and genetic diversity of the Antioch Dunes Evening Primrose (Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii). During field work, the project also expanded to investigate a putative new taxon in the O. deltoides clade. We published a USGS Open File Report summarizing the project, and a manuscript in Biological Invasions (Jones et al. 2021). We are currently revising a subspecies description for the new taxon (Jones et al.). |
How do environmental gradients structure wetland plant diversity?
|
Spatial Variability along Stress Gradients. This project tested how flooding and soil salinity in the SF Bay-Delta structures the diversity of dominant plants across spatial scales, using a variety of analytical approaches. The resulting manuscript is currently under review (Rankin et al.).
Land Management and Cross-Scale Diversity. This project, funded in part by USGS Priority Ecosystem Science, tested how water management altered plant community biodiversity compared to tidal wetlands along a salinity gradient in the SF Bay-Delta. We tested impacts of water management and salinity from plots to regions. The resulting manuscript was published in Ecosphere (Jones et al. 2021). |
|
