Browsing by Author "Johnson, Sarah A."

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    Scaling of Density-Dependent Reproduction in Bee-Pollinated Forbs of Logged Forests
    (2015-12-16) Johnson, Sarah A.; Cartar, Ralph; Vamosi, Jana; Ruckstuhl, Kathreen; Galpern, Paul; Goldblum, David
    Plant reproduction can be impacted by a variety of influences at a range of spatial scales. In the face of accelerating anthropogenic habitat disturbance, it is worth understanding how communities function within highly altered landscapes. I examined how seed size and number varied for nine species of understory forb within logged foothills forests of southern Alberta. I examined local relationships between reproductive output and floral neighbourhood, bee abundance, and habitat variation, and how these might be modified along a gradient of landscape-scale clearcut logging. I found that local variables best explained plant seed production, and heterospecifics were generally more beneficial than expected. Further, logging in the landscape modified local interactions above a threshold point of approximately 50% logging in a 1.77 km^2 area, predominantly for more habitat-specialized species. These results have implications for forest management, and for the importance of testing for interactions between explanatory variables, even across spatial scales.