Scaling of Density-Dependent Reproduction in Bee-Pollinated Forbs of Logged Forests
Abstract
Plant reproduction can be impacted by a variety of influences at a range of spatial scales. In the face of accelerating anthropogenic habitat disturbance, it is worth understanding how communities function within highly altered landscapes. I examined how seed size and number varied for nine species of understory forb within logged foothills forests of southern Alberta. I examined local relationships between reproductive output and floral neighbourhood, bee abundance, and habitat variation, and how these might be modified along a gradient of landscape-scale clearcut logging. I found that local variables best explained plant seed production, and heterospecifics were generally more beneficial than expected. Further, logging in the landscape modified local interactions above a threshold point of approximately 50% logging in a 1.77 km^2 area, predominantly for more habitat-specialized species. These results have implications for forest management, and for the importance of testing for interactions between explanatory variables, even across spatial scales.
Description
Keywords
Ecology
Citation
Johnson, S. A. (2015). Scaling of Density-Dependent Reproduction in Bee-Pollinated Forbs of Logged Forests (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27709