Mississippi River Project
Plant Community Ecologists still debate over what mechanisms drive community assembly. We have completed several projects to date with many more on the horizon. First, we have determined our hydrologic gradient (i.e., disturbance gradient) on each island by manual determination of island morphology. Our research shows that islands shift within the main channel, which could ultimately affect navigation.
Plant communities show a combination of niche vs. neutral processes which is evidenced by the unimodal pattern of richness and diversity (as shown by Figs.3 & 4 below).
We have also conducted greenhouse studies that mimic hydroperiods on islands (simulating flood and drought). Greenhouse studies indicate that disturbances (here represented as water stress) play a stronger role than species interactions (competition).
