Date of Award

1982

Degree Name

Biological Sciences

College

College of Science

Type of Degree

M.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Dan K. Evans

Second Advisor

Stanley W. Ash

Third Advisor

Donald C. Tarter

Abstract

Flora and vegetation were studied in five natural wetlands along the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, southwestern West Virginia. Vegetation was analysed using a stratified-ran­dom approach with nested quadrats along line transects. The abundance of dead trees suggests an overall increase in water level with time. One to three canopy species comprise 75 percent of the Basal Area at all five sites. Acer rubrum and Quercus palustris are the dominant species at the Winfield East, Winfield West and Pt. Pleasant sites. Salix nigra is the dominant species at McCausland Run site and Acer saccharinum is dominant at the Guyan Creek Oxbow site. Cephalanthus occidentalis, an aquatic shrub ranks first or second in importance at all five sites. Pt. Pleasant has the greatest variety of shrub-saplings with six species shar­ing a dominant role. However, in the seedling stratum, Acer rucrum ranks first or second at Winfield East, Winfield West and Pt. Pleasant sites, while Acer: sacc:r.arinum ranks first or second at the McCausland Run and Guyan Creek Oxbow sites. The herbaceous and woody vine stratum shows a similarity be­tween the Winfield East and Pt. Pleasant sites in total number of species and similarity in species composition. The Winfield West, McCausland Run and Guyan Creek Oxbow sites show a greater dominance and lower diversity of herbaceous plants but differ in species composition. The Winfield West site is further distinguished by the importance of such rare plants as Decodon yertcillatus, Careseorsa and Hypericumtubulosum var. Walterii. The McCausland Run site differs by the importance of Leersia oryzoides and Ludwigia palustris. The Guyan Creek Oxbow site is related to the McCausland Run site by the importance of Leersia oryzoides but differs by the sub-dominance of Lycopus americanus and Nuphar advena. A total of 268 species among 77 families were recorded in the study with Sorensen's Coefficient of Similarity ranging from 0.323 to 0.564 for the five sites. The similarity of the Winfield East, Winfield West and Pt. Plesant sites and the similarity between the McCausland Run and Guyan Creek Oxbow sites are further supported with the Shannon and Weaver Index of Diversity, Pielou's Evenness Index, the Index of Species Richness as well as site clustering using Sorensen's Coefficient of Similarity.

Subject(s)

Wetlands - West Virginia.

Botany - West Virginia.

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