Publication Date
2021
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Christopher Barton, Ph.D. (Advisor); David Peterman, Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ryan McEwan, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Abstract
The non-native invasive shrub Amur honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Herder (Gorchov and Trisel, 2003), is one of the most prolific invasive plant species across Midwestern and Northeastern landscapes of the United States. The locations of 2,095 individual Amur honeysuckle stems were geolocated using handheld GPS units in the understory of mixed growth forests at two study sites located approximately 5 km apart in northwestern Greene County, OH. Each site has undergone different levels of anthropogenic disturbance through time. The stem position data was used to measure the spatial clumping distribution and the density of Amur honeysuckle. The spatial clumping of Amur honeysuckle stems was measured using the fractal box counting method at each study site without regard for streams, trails, or elevation. The density of Amur honeysuckle (number of stems per square meter) was measured in zones as a function of the horizontal distance perpendicular to the edge of streams, trails, and within elevation (area between contour lines). Amur honeysuckle density is found to be uncorrelated with its proximity to streams, trails, and elevation. The density of Amur honeysuckle as a function of distance from streams and trails does not reveal an edge effect. The fractal dimension (scaling exponent) was computed to be ~1.5 at each of the two sites which means that the spatial clustering is the same for actively managed (partial Amur honeysuckle removal) and unmanaged sites. These results suggest that the invasion potential of Amur honeysuckle is robust, and its distribution may not be constrained in riparian forests by the variables included in this study.
Page Count
108
Department or Program
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Copyright
Copyright 2021, some rights reserved. My ETD may be copied and distributed only for non-commercial purposes and may not be modified. All use must give me credit as the original author.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
