Presenter: Justin Culman
Co-Presenters: Kassandra McIntyre, Kaitlin Loomis, Olivia Somhegyi, Jacob Hyman
Faculty Mentor: Peg Boulay, Lauren Hendricks
Presentation Type: Poster 7
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Environmental Science and Geography
Changes in the seasonal timing of flowering plant species (phenology) and species geographic distribution (range shifts) within the Mediterranean climate of the Pacific Northwest are related to changes in climate patterns. This change in flowering phenology affects prairie community composition and ecosystem function. Since climate influences the range of individual native plant species, understanding the effects of climate change is important to determine potential shifts in species dynamics. We examined how climate change variables affect the phenology of plants through a field experiment conducted at an upland prairie site at Willow Creek Conservation Area on 15 native plant species, both forbs and grasses. The variables included an increase in temperature (+2.5–3.0 °C) and a “drought” measurement (a drainage run-off system of 40% of the precipitation over each plot). As measures of the rate of phenology for each plant species, we used the time of visible germination, seedlings and flowering measures. We conducted a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis to measure the photosynthetic activity as an indicator of primary productivity using a four-factorial ANOVA. We also examined Pollinator surveys that recorded numbers and species groups of pollinators to understand their influences on phenology and productivity. We anticipate our findings will demonstrate that both heating and drought conditions change the timing of phenology compared to the control group. The overall study demonstrates how climate change will dramatically alter the ecosystem dynamics and relationships of plants, pollinators, and other organisms, which should be addressed as an important environmental issue.