Jb. Grace et Gr. Guntenspergen, The effects of landscape position on plant species density: Evidence of past environmental effects in a coastal wetland, ECOSCIENCE, 6(3), 1999, pp. 381-391
Here we propose that an important cause of variation in species density may
be prior environmental conditions that continue to influence current patte
rns. In this paper we investigated the degree to which species density vari
es with location within the landscape, independent of contemporaneous envir
onmental conditions. The area studied was a coastal marsh landscape subject
to periodic storm events. To evaluate the impact of historical effects, it
was assumed that the landscape position of a plot relative to the river's
mouth ("distance from sea") and to the edge of a stream channel ("distance
from shore") would correlate with the impact of prior storm events, an assu
mption supported by previous studies. To evaluate the importance of spatial
location on species density, data were collected from five sites located a
t increasing distances from the river's mouth along the Middle Pearl River
in Louisiana. At each site, plots were established systematically along tra
nsects perpendicular to the shoreline. For each of the 175 plots, we measur
ed elevation, soil salinity, percent of plot recently disturbed, percent of
sunlight captured by the plant canopy (as a measure of plant abundance), a
nd plant species density. Structural equation analysis ascertained the degr
ee to which landscape position variables explained variation in species den
sity that could not be explained by current environmental indicators. Witho
ut considering landscape variables, 54% of the variation in species density
could be explained by the effects of salinity, flooding, and plant abundan
ce. When landscape variables were included, distance from shore was unimpor
tant but distance from sea explained an additional 12% of the variance in s
pecies density (R-2 of final model = 66%). Based on these results it appear
s that at least some of the otherwise unexplained variation in species dens
ity can be attributed to landscape position, and presumably previous storm
events. We suggest that future studies may gain additional insight into the
factors controlling current patterns of species density by examining the e
ffects of position within the landscape.