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Structural diversity as a habitat indicator for endangered lakeshore flora using an assemblage of common plant species in Atlantic Canada

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Abstract

Vegetation structure, defined by the height, cover, and types of plants, is an important component of habitat suitability for plant species or communities. The identification of potential habitat is a crucial knowledge gap for endangered Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora (ACPF), a group of taxonomically unrelated plants that share common habitat types and are mostly found on lakeshores and wetlands in the Atlantic coastal region of North America. Our objectives were to assess spatial patterns and relationships of ACPF richness and structural diversity indices at different scales and positions along the lakeshore-to-forest gradient. We sampled 16 sites at 7 lakes in southwestern Nova Scotia using contiguous 20 × 20 cm quadrats along 20 m transects, perpendicular to the waterline, and in 5 × 5 m grids, between the lake and the forest edge. We measured the cover of 19 ACPF species and structural elements at different heights and calculated structural diversity indices using the Shannon index. Spatial patterns were assessed using one- and two-dimensional wavelet variance and covariance. The edge of the zone of high ACPF richness coincided with greater structural diversity at the lakeshore edge. Herbaceous ACPF richness was positively associated with structural diversity at finer scales and on lakeshores, but negatively associated at coarser scales and farther from the waterline. A strong association of structural diversity with ACPF richness suggests it could be used as a habitat indicator for ACPF on lakeshores, which could help the identification and conservation of potential suitable shorelines for ACPF populations in Nova Scotia.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Alain Belliveau for recommending potential study species, lakes, and sites; Amanda Ring and Brittany Gerhardt for helping to collect data; and Sean Basquill, Philip Giles, and Yolanda Wiersma for providing suggestions on the manuscript. Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Saint Mary’s University, Dalhousie University Biology Department, and the Government of Nova Scotia Labour and Advanced Education: Cooperative Education Incentive.

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  1. Department of Biology, Saint Mary’s University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3, Canada

    Natasha Dazé Querry & Karen Amanda Harper

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  1. Natasha Dazé Querry
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  2. Karen Amanda Harper
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Correspondence to Natasha Dazé Querry.

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Communicated by Neal J. Enright.

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Dazé Querry, N., Harper, K.A. Structural diversity as a habitat indicator for endangered lakeshore flora using an assemblage of common plant species in Atlantic Canada. Plant Ecol 218, 1339–1353 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-017-0772-4

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