Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Type
Submission
Keywords
Carpobrotus edulis, invasive species, species richness, biodiversity, quadrat sampling, transect analysis, Shannon diversity, community composition, Ecology, wildlife
Department
Biology
Major
Biology
Abstract
This study examined the influence of the invasive ice plant Carpobrotus edulis on species richness and biodiversity in Bluffs Park. Because previous research suggests that C. edulis suppresses nearby native flora, our team used quadrat and transect sampling to measure plant diversity at seven distances from the invasion edge (1 m, 3m, 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, 30 m). Flora were identified using iNaturalist and recorded. Shannon diversity showed no significant change with distance (ANOVA: F₆,₄₂ = 1.34, p = 0.18), and assumptions of normality and equal variance were met. Tukey’s post-hoc tests found no significant pairwise differences. Community composition based on Bray–Curtis dissimilarities also showed no distance-based clustering of specific flora, and PERMANOVA indicated that distance explained little variation in species composition (R² = 0.161, p = 0.203). Overall, results suggest that plant diversity and community structure do not significantly vary with distance from C. edulis, implying that its ecological impact may depend on factors beyond distance from the invasion front, such as presence of other invasive species, microhabitat of the soil, etc..
Faculty Mentor
Florybeth La Valle
Location
Waves Cafeteria
Start Date
10-4-2026 1:00 PM
End Date
10-4-2026 2:00 PM
Included in
Where the Ice Plant Reaches: Mapping Biodiversity Shifts Along Distance Gradients from Carpobrotus edulis
Waves Cafeteria
This study examined the influence of the invasive ice plant Carpobrotus edulis on species richness and biodiversity in Bluffs Park. Because previous research suggests that C. edulis suppresses nearby native flora, our team used quadrat and transect sampling to measure plant diversity at seven distances from the invasion edge (1 m, 3m, 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, 30 m). Flora were identified using iNaturalist and recorded. Shannon diversity showed no significant change with distance (ANOVA: F₆,₄₂ = 1.34, p = 0.18), and assumptions of normality and equal variance were met. Tukey’s post-hoc tests found no significant pairwise differences. Community composition based on Bray–Curtis dissimilarities also showed no distance-based clustering of specific flora, and PERMANOVA indicated that distance explained little variation in species composition (R² = 0.161, p = 0.203). Overall, results suggest that plant diversity and community structure do not significantly vary with distance from C. edulis, implying that its ecological impact may depend on factors beyond distance from the invasion front, such as presence of other invasive species, microhabitat of the soil, etc..