acase@tulane.edu / Ecogeomorphology is the study of interactions and feedbacks between the physical surface processes and biological communities in an ecosystem. These interactions are under-studied in wetlands associated with river deltas, and are of vital importance to the deteriorating wetlands of South Louisiana. As the state of Louisiana implements its Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, which relies heavily on diverting Mississippi River water in order to create new wetlands, a detailed understanding of ecogeomorphological relationships is required to create accurate predictive models to design and assess future projects. This research is comprised of three studies of such relationships in the West Bay Sediment Diversion near Venice, LA, and has resulted in the following key findings: 1) the composition of the buried seed bank suggests a shift from river-derived to within-system propagules as the marsh develops, 2) emergent plant roots increase the cohesion of marsh soils, especially when grasses, sedges, and woody species dominate the vegetation, and 3) a competition experiment between the native sedge Schoenoplectus deltarum and the invasive grass Phragmites australis indicated that the two species performed approximately equally in mixture, regardless of abiotic stressors, while the stressors did affect productivity of each species grown in monoculture. These three studies are unified by the role of wetland vegetation as an increasingly important autogenic modifier of other wetland processes during the early development of the marsh. / 1 / Alexander D Ameen
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_76954 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Contributors | Ameen, Alexander (author), Taylor, Caz (Thesis advisor), School of Science & Engineering Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic |
| Rights | No embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law. |
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