Plant Species Richness and Diversity

Abstract

Shallow aquatic communities have the lowest species richness and diversity whereas marsh and meadow communities have the highest species richness and diversity; indices for emergent marshes are intermediate. By treatment, process-affected wetlands are distinguishable from other wetlands in their low indices of plot-level species richness and diversity. These wetlands are often dominated by a few disturbance-adapted ecological generalists. The fact that process-affected and OSREF wetlands differ from each other in their species richness and diversity suggests that process-affected wetlands impose chemical or physical limitations that militate against plant establishment and persistence. The replicate data similarly demonstrate lower indices of plot-level species richness and diversity in industrial than in natural wetlands. Industrial wetlands contain more weed species and a higher cover of weedy species in their plots than do natural wetlands. At the landscape-level, industrial wetlands contain a depauperate number of native plant species relative to natural wetlands.