Monday, August 6, 2007

PS 6-72: Two habitats post-Hurricane Katrina exhibit similar levels of species biodiversity in plants and soil-dwelling invertebrates

Meri Cibilic, Tracey P. Thayer, and Katherine E. B. Law. Our Lady of Holy Cross College

Disturbance is known to have profound effects on the diversity and complexity of ecological communities. This study was conducted to compare levels of biodiversity between two habitats within New Orleans that experienced differences in flood disturbance from Hurricane Katrina: Our Lady of Holy Cross College, which had no flooding, and New Orleans City Park, which had significant flooding. Although there has been much speculation about the ecological effects of the flooding from Hurricane Katrina, there have only been a few studies focused solely on this effect. Soil samples were collected from both habitats with repeated measures and invertebrates extracted by using the Berlese funnel technique. The quadrat sampling method was used to acquire data from both locations to determine levels of biodiversity among plants. The Shannon-Weiner index was used to compare species diversity in each habitat. Rank-Abundance curves were applied to compare species richness and species evenness in both communities. The results of the Shannon-Wiener indices demonstrate non-significant differences (student t-test p>0.05) between the two habitats. These two communities were also similar in measures of species evenness and richness. The low levels of biodiversity that were expected by many after Hurricane Katrina in areas that sustained high levels of flooding have not been supported through this study. This data illustrates the need for further research to investigate how disturbance can affect biodiversity between hurricane affected and unaffected habitats.

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