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- All Subjects: southwest
- Creators: Salywon, Andrew
Description
This report documents the results of an empirical study to characterize science diaspora networks and their underlying organizations and to document how network managers characterize operational successes, challenges, future plans, and relations to science diplomacy.
ContributorsElliott, Steve (Author) / Butler, Dorothy (Author) / Del Castello, Barbara (Author) / Goldenkoff, Elana (Author) / Warner, Isabel (Author) / Zimmermann, Alessandra (Author)
Created2022-09-14
Description
There is an ongoing debate around the extent that anthropogenic processes influence both plant species distribution dynamics and plant biodiversity patterns. Past human food use may leave a strong legacy on not only the extent that food plants are dispersed and fill their potential geographic ranges, but also on food plant species richness in areas that have been densely populated by humans through time. The persistent legacy of plant domestication on contemporary species composition has been suggested to be significant in some regions. However, little is known about the effects that past human food use has had on the biogeography of the Sonoran Desert despite its rich cultural diversity and species richness. I used a combination of ecoinformatics, ethnobotanical, and archaeological data sources to quantitatively assess the impacts of pre-Columbian, and in some cases, more recent, human-mediated dispersal of food plants on the Sonoran Desert landscape. I found that (i) food plants do fill more of their potential geographic ranges than their un-used congeners, and that polyploidy, growth form, and life form are correlated with range filling and past food usage. I also found that (ii) both pre-Columbian and contemporary human population presence are correlated with relative food plant species richness. Thus, both past human food use and contemporary human activities may have influenced the geographic distribution of food plants at regional scales as well as species richness patterns. My research emphasizes that there is an interplay between ecological and anthropogenic processes, and that, therefore, humans must be considered as part of the landscape and included in ecological models.
ContributorsFlower, Carolyn (Author) / Blonder, Benjamin (Thesis advisor) / Hodgson, Wendy (Committee member) / Peeples, Matthew (Committee member) / Salywon, Andrew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (LCNCA), located in southeastern Arizona, is a place of ecological and historical value. It is host to rare native, threatened and endangered fauna and flora. as well as the site of the oldest operating ranch in the state. The first chapter of this thesis provides a preliminary flora of vascular plants at LCNCA assembled from field collections, photographs and herbarium specimens, and published through the online database SEINet. This preliminary flora of LCNCA identified 403 species in 76 families. Less than 6% of the flora is non-native, perennial forbs and grasses are the most abundant groups, and over a third of species in the checklist are associated with wetlands. LCNCA has been the target of adaptive management and conservation strategies to preserve its biotic diversity, and results from this study will help inform actions to preserve its rare habitats including cottonwood willow forests, mesquite bosques, sacaton grasslands, and cienegas. The second chapter investigates poorly understood aspects of the life history of the endangered Huachuca Water Umbel (Lilaeopsis schaffneriana subsp. recurva. Apiaceae) (hereafter HWU). This wetland species occurs in scattered cienegas and streams in southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Three studies were conducted in a greenhouse to investigate seed bank establishment, seed longevity, and drought tolerance. A fourth study compared the reproductive phenology of populations transplanted at LCNCA to populations transplanted at urban sites like the Phoenix Zoo Conservation Center and the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG). Results from the greenhouse studies showed that HWU seeds were capable of germinating 15 years in a dormant state and that HWU seeds are present in the seed banks at sites where populations have been transplanted. Also, greenhouse experiments indicated that colonies of HWU can tolerate up to 3 weeks without flowing water, and up to 2 weeks in dry substrate. Transplanted populations at LCNCA monitored in the fourth study produced a higher abundance of flowers and fruit relative to urban sites (i.e. DBG) suggesting that in-situ conservation efforts may be more favorable for the recovery of HWU populations. Findings from these studies aim to inform gaps in knowledge highlighted in USFWS recovery plan for this species.
ContributorsSolves, Jean-Philippe Yvan (Author) / Pigg, Kathleen B (Thesis advisor) / Salywon, Andrew (Committee member) / Makings, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020