Progress 06/01/09 to 10/28/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project created a three-year time series of ultra high resolution topographic maps, as well as a multi-year time series of intertidal temperature at the study site in a National Estuarine Research Reserve. Additionally, we provided kinematic GPS measurements of the location of the research reserve's roughly twenty sediment elevation monitoring stations. Results have been disseminated at multiple academic meetings including, but not limited to he Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, the American Association of Geographers annual meeting, and the Estuarine Research Federation annual meeting, as well as management oriented meetings such as the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. We are currently preparing a publication for submission: Microtopography mediates competition between an introduced seagrass and its native congener. Michael Hannam & Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria. PARTICIPANTS: Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, Research Scientist, University of Washington. Michael Hannam, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Washington, College of the Environment, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Dr. Doug Bulthuis, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Dr. John Rybzyck, Western Washington University. TARGET AUDIENCES: These findings provide naturally resource managers with important knowledge to facilitate the management of an invasive species that has recently been listed as a class C noxious weed in Washington State. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: After one season of data collection, we determined that the environmental surveys that we had planned would likely be insufficient to elucidate the factors driving the local success and failure of the invasive plant under study (Zostera japonica). As such, we pursued a suite of manipulative field transplant experiments instead of expanding the environmental surveys to new locations, as originally planned. We continued the lidar and temperature monitoring at the primary field site, but discontinued sediment chemistry analysis.
Impacts
Findings from our field experiments have indicated that the native seagrass, Zostera marina, is a superior competitor to its invasive congener, Zostera japonica, where the species co-occur. The two species have differing environmental tolerances, however, allowing the invasive species to survive in microhabitats that do not support the native seagrass. Intertidal microtopography at the study site provides a mosaic of microhabitats, allowing for the proximal coexistence to the two species. This microtopography changed little from year to year over a three-year period. Understanding the temporal dynamics of microtopography at the site was facilitated through the use of a terrestrial laser scanner, purchased through the Student Technology Fund, and survey-grade GPS receivers housed in the precision forestry co-op.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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