Date of Award
Fall 1997
Document Type
Legacy Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Marine Science
College
College of Science
First Advisor
Eric F. Pauley
Abstract/Description
Wetlands destroyed or damaged by human activity may be replaced by the restoration or preservation of existing wetlands, or through the creation of new wetlands. When attempting to create a wetland, it is important to identify factors which influence the development of hydrophytic plant communities. At a wetland creation site in Georgetown County, South Carolina, the effects of microtopography caused by excavation machinery and the effects of seeding with a grass mixture cover crop on first-year vegetation patterns were examined. The influence of these factors on vegetation patterns depended upon where the plots were located with respect to standing water in the creation area. In plots closest to ponded areas, reducing microtopography decreased the percent cover of obligate and facultative wetland species and increased the percent cover of facultative species, while in plots furthest from ponded areas the same effect was seen in treatments which combined reducing topography and seeding. Seeding with a cover crop alone had no significant effect in any plots.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Spicer, Jennifer S., "The Influence of Microtopography and Cover Crop on First-Year Vegetative Colonization of a Created Wetland" (1997). Honors Theses. 299.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/honors-theses/299