Plant Ecology and Biodiversity

Studies in plant ecology and biodiversity at Ichauway are particularly valuable because Ichauway has a unique combination of some of the most extensive natural stands of species rich longleaf pine-wiregrass that remain, as well as adjoining areas which have undergone intensive alterations due to cultivation and pine plantations. Thus, an understanding of the complex controls on biodiversity in relatively undisturbed stands can be used to develop management alternatives and restoration tools necessary to maintain the biodiversity which is currently critically threatened in the region. Our goal is to conduct basic research to understand controls and patterns of variation in plant community structure and ecological functions across the landscape. This approach necessitates ecosystem-oriented research programs that quantify complex feedbacks among structure, function, and disturbances and how they vary across ecological gradients. Direct applications of this research will be in developing techniques that land managers can use in conservation of remaining longleaf pine-wiregrass stands, in assessing impacts of silvicultural operations on biodiversity and in restoration of degraded sites.