<p> This study of the vegetation of the 100,000-acre Connecticut Tract in western New York examines the presettlement characteristics of the forest, including the tree species composition, tree density, and wetland extent. Presettlement vegetation studies add to what is known about the forests of this region before European settlement in the early 1800s brought widespread changes to these forests. The ecological data in original private land surveys from 1811 were transcribed and then analyzed using ArcGIS and IDRISI GIS software. The surveys contained both witness tree data and line descriptions, which were analyzed for species composition and community type and were compared with Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data about the contemporary forest in the study area. The community type results together with surveyor notes were used to extrapolate wetland coverage, which was compared with the 2006 National Wetlands Inventory Database.</p><p> This study fills in missing historical data between the two largest land purchases in western New York and examines forest composition at a finer-grained scale than surveys of those land purchases. Comparing past and present vegetation clarifies past causes of temporal and spatial variability and provides a reference point for land managers who need to understand the effects of land-use history for ongoing restoration efforts.</p>

<p>Necessary for the diversity and survival of most terrestrial plants, arbuscular mycorrhizae (AMF) are fungi that form mutualistic symbiotic relationships with approximately 90 percent of terrestrial plant families. While the biodiversity and abundance of plants and animals have received much attention, these patterns for the belowground organisms on which they rely, such as AMF, remain poorly understood. While studies have found indications that AMF are fundamental to ecosystem structure and function, relatively few of these studies have been conducted in situ. In their ability to accommodate the complexity found in natural ecosystems, in situ studies may be vital in providing information relevant to the restoration and conservation of ecosystems. This thesis sought to explore in situ how AMF diversity and root colonization changed across ecosystems along an elevation gradient in Southern California. The findings indicate that certain soil parameters may be especially influential and that intra-species competition may play a role in AMF root colonization.