Spencer Bissett’s research
is focused on the role of vines in shaping communities in coastal ecosystems,
specifically large-scale successional effects. In his recently-published paper, "Linking
habitat with associations of woody vegetation and vines on two mid-Atlantic
barrier islands" describes our findings comparing woody and vine plant
communities at two sites. Working at Hog
Island, off the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the Duck Field Research Facility
in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Spencer measured environmental variables
including soil acidity, soil salinity, elevation, and distance from shoreline
at multiple plots, and related these variables to the presence of plants across
the sites to test whether these variables affected distributions of woody
vegetation or vine species. Vine presence
was positively affected by woody plant presence, which in turn was most
strongly influenced by elevation. In
some places, vines were so thick Spencer could walk over the shrubs. Future research will focus on
species-specific relationships, in a continuing effort to better understand the
influences contributing to vine presence and success in these fragile, dynamic,
and highly environmentally-responsive coastal habitats. The article can be found at: http://www.jcronline.org/doi/abs/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-13-00177.1 or by emailing bissetsn@vcu.edu.
Image: Smilax sp. covering Morella cerifera thicket. Photo credit: Spencer Bissett
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