The Effect of Alien Species on Native Plant Diversity in Coastal Sage Scrub

Diversity Lab:
The Effect of Alien Species on Native Plant Diversity in Coastal Sage Scrub
BIOL/ENVS251 Spring 2020 Updated 13/04/20 Alejandrino 1
Introduction (4/13 or 4/14)
Non-native, alien, species often have a devastating impact on native species. This is especially true when the non-natives become invasive and overwhelm the native species through increased competition or predation. In this lab, we investigate the effect of non-native plant cover on native species diversity in coastal sage scrub. Coastal sage scrub (CSS) is a community characterized by a diverse assemblage of plants many of which are endemic to southern California. Some species are shallow rooted, and survive the summer by dropping their leaves and going dormant. Other species are deeply rooted and survive the summer drought by accessing ground water deep in the soil, and by conserving water by closing their stomata, pores in the leaves that allow for the diffusion of CO2 in, but also allow H2O to diffuse out. We have lost most of our CSS habitat to development, and in the remaining patches, invasive non-native grasses and annuals often outcompete the native species after disturbance, which results in the conversion of shrublands to non-native grasslands. Restoration attempts reverse the conversion of CSS by removing non-native species and introducing native species through planting or seeding. In one sense, you can think of restoration as instant succession. However, restoration is tricky, and projects often fail, or require constant maintenance to remove non-natives.
The purpose of this lab is to investigate the relationship between invasive species cover, and native species diversity in restored and un-restored CSS habitat. We will compare the following:
• Invasive vs. native cover in restored and un-restored areas of CSS.
• Invasive cover vs. species diversity in restored and un-restored CSS.
• Native species diversity in restored and unrestored areas CSS.
Species ID
1. bare ground
2. all non-native species including all grasses
3. bush sunflower: yellow conspicuous flowers; inflorescent head
4. buckwheat: characteristic amble inflorescence (three branches); flowers not yellow as in bush sunflower
5. black sage: poodles-like inflorescence; square stem; opposite leaves
6. laurel sumac: leaves like taco shell with big red veins in middle of leaf
7. California sage: 3 parted threadlike leaves; smells good
8. mulefat: conspicuous big shrub; easily recognizable; serrated leaves
9. solanum: white flowers, anthers with a yellow crown
10. Verbinacea: with little purple flows
11. Opuntia: unmistakable cactus
12. coyote bush: large bush with really dark green fine leaves
13. goldenbush: no live flowers, yellow if present; toothed leaves hairy seeds
14. white sage: whitish looking bush
15. Marah: a climber with medieval looking fruits; AKA manroot or wild cucumber
16. monkey flower: opposite leaves, creamy flowers; looks like sage but has no inflorescence, has orange flowers
17. elderberry: a tree with opposite compound leaves, blueberry-like fruits
18. everlasting flower: a herb with flowers in all individuals
19. blue fiestaflower: herb with purple flowers
20. toyon: large shrub with red berries (Hollywood); unlike taco plant, leaves are serrated
21. POISON OAK-OAK LIKE LEAVES, DO NOT TOUCH
22. gooseberry: small shrub with dangling purple flowers
23. lemonadeberry: like oak but has berry like fruits rather than acorns
24. oak: large tree with acorns
Materials
• 30-m line transect
• data sheet
• native plant guide
• clipboard
• writing utensil
Methods
1. Working in groups, you will establish a 30 meter line transect with a measuring tape (about 100 feet). You will record:
a. The cover of non-native species along the transect.
b. The identity of each native species and its cover along the transect.
So your transect will look something like this:
2. Complete at least three (3) transects per site (restored and un-restored CSS habitat). Your data sheet should look like this (illustrative purposes only, see provided data form):
Transect Species Start (m) Finish (m) Cover = finish - start 1 4 - buckwheat 0 3 3
1 20 - toyon 5 6 1
1 4 - buckwheat 10 15 5
1 23 - lemonade berry 20 25 5
1 16 - monkey flower 28 30 2
3. Enter your data into Excel, exactly as it is entered on the data sheet and upload to Moodle.
Data Calculations (4/18 or 4/19)
4. Download the Class Diversity Data from Moodle.
Diversity Lab:
The Effect of Alien Species on Native Plant Diversity in Coastal Sage Scrub
5. Process the data so that you can determine the following attributes for each transect:
a. Count the number of individuals of each native species.
b. Add up the total native cover.
c. Add up the total non-native cover.
d. Calculate the species richness, S.
e. Calculate the Shannon diversity index, H’.
6. Construct rank abundance curves to compare species richness between restored and unrestored sites. The rank abundance curve is a very useful tool because it makes information on species richness, evenness, and diversity accessible at a glance.
a. Calculate the abundance (number of individuals) of each species in restored and unrestored sites.
b. Rank the most abundant species as 1, the second most abundant as 2 and so forth.
Plot the rank of each species on the x-axis and abundance on the y-axis.
7. Use a scatter plot (linear regression) to test the effect of non-native cover on species diversity, i.e. graph the diversity index for each transect against the non-native cover.
8. Conduct the following statistical tests:
a. Determine if there is greater diversity of natives in restored or un-restored areas.
b. Determine if there is a difference in native cover and non-native cover within restored areas.
c. Determine if there is a difference in native cover and non-native cover within unrestored areas.
d. Determine if there is a difference in native cover between unrestored and restored areas.
e. Determine if there is a difference in non-native cover between restored and unrestored areas.
Specific requirements for the final paper
Introduction: Below is an outline of how the Introduction for this paper should be organized and what information should be included. Be sure to use scientific literature to support your explanations.
• Start with a paragraph that broadly explains what the experiment is about. What is the main idea of the experiment and why is it important to test? Avoid talking about CSS.
• The next paragraph should be about native species, alien species, and invasive species.
Explain what each are and how they relate to the main idea of the experiment. What do we know about native, alien, and invasive species with respect to the main idea?
• The third paragraph should introduce the experimental system. Why is the CSS an ideal plant community for the experiment? What can it tell us about native, alien, and invasive species? What can it tell us about the main idea of the experiment?
• The last paragraph should explain how experimenting on CSS will help us understand native, alien, and invasive species and the main idea (What is the objective?) Don’t forget to include your biological hypothesis and make sure your references in the previous paragraphs back it up

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