My study looks at the relationship between water availability and its role in influencing vegetation spatial variation patterns, within my study area Baldry Creek Park, a depressional, shallow water wetland characterized by a centralized, moderately large pond and a slight slope. Based on this observation it is plausible that the pond is fed by rainfall, melted snow and groundwater.
In my initial observations, I noticed a higher density of plant species closer to the pond than any other location. I determined resource heterogeneity (either high or low access to water) by measuring the furthest distance from the pond at which point the soil was no longer damp, which was approx. 10m. This suggested that resource distribution along a moisture graidient (moisture gradient; damp, <10m from pond, dry, >10m from pond) influences spatial variation and organizational patterns of the vegetation in Bladry Creek Park.
The ecological processes and theoretical perspectives that underly my hypothesis relate to the principle of limiting factors, also, environmental stressors (climatic stressors) that affect natural ecosystems such as regimes of temperature, moisture, or nutrients, and theoretical perspective of the SER model. With one or few factors exerting either a dominant or minor effect on community spatial structure. The idea being that resource heterogeneity (differential access to abiotic factors; water in the case of my study) should influence the vegetation organizational patterns.
Other ecological processes that could potentially influence my study are associated to access to and competition for specific abiotic factors such as light, however due to the seasonality and absence of most photosynthetic organs and change in light intensity (daylight hours affects light exposure duration) at the time of study I chose not to investigate this additional factor. Herbivory may also be an underlying process.
Key concepts include limiting factors of high and low water accessibility
Chronic stressors influence ecological development and if the intensity is severe enough may restrict an ecosystem to a low level of biodiversity. Environmental stressors at extremely low or high exposures influence the organization of landscape structures. The ecological implications of this include understanding of the organization of the natural world, providing insight on how to manage components of the biosphere while preventing damage by determining zones of tolerance as a key way to maintain biodiversity, (a conservational perspective). Especially in extreme environments such as the prairies/tundra where chronic stressors already restrict the environment to low biodiversity, because only tolerant vegetation can thrive. By understanding the limiting factors that affect spatial organization of several species, it can be used to inform conservational efforts to maintain an ecosystem with already relatively low biodiversity.
Key words: moisture gradient, environmental gradient, shallow water wetland