Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-2002
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Major Professor
Daniel Simberloff
Committee Members
Hazel R. Delcourt, Louis J. Gross, Sharon H. Hermann, Wilfred M. Post III, Jake F. Weltzin
Abstract
The theory that communities can withStand introductions of non-natives is called “ecological resistance,” which was hypothesized to consist of three interdependent elements: (1) environmental resistance, which may be mediated through natural disturbances; (2) biotic resistance, which is a consequence of plant adaptive strategies; and (3) demographic resistance, which may be expressed as differential dispersal and establishment. I separated the influences of natural disturbance, biotic resistance, and demographic resistance and ranked their contributions to ecological resistance with a field experiment. This research was conducted at Big Stony Creek, a naturally flooded system within the Jefferson National Forest in southwestern Virginia. I manipulated resident diversities and functional group representation along a disturbance gradient and planted differing quantities of invaders into these manipulated plots. Success of an invasion was measured by survivorship and growth of the invader.
Recommended Citation
Von Holle, MaryBeth., "Ranking the components of ecological resistance to biological invaders : an experimental manipulation in a southern Appalachian riparian forest.. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2002.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/6326