Expansion of herbaria data based on historically surveyed herbaceous plants in the Crested Butte area, Colorado.
Abstract
Climate change has been changing plant community systems worldwide. These observations can be seen over a broad range, when resurveyed. Recording these changes in plant community structure is necessary if future plant migration studies are to be done. Herbarium data was expanded using historically surveyed data as a basis for study. Elevation ranges for Castilleja sulphurea was expanded. Voucher specimens were collected in areas where data were lacking. Expansion of herbarium data can aid in future studies regarding the holistic biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems. Geranium richardsonii sex ratio data was also collected to help expand knowledge of whether elevation has an influence on number of female verses hermaphroditic flowers. Seven percent, on average, of G. richardsonii flowers within a single population are female. By mapping the elevations and ranges of the species I studied, others could use those herbarium records in the future to see the shifts in community structures, as well as understand plant species populations, based on area. These data points can be of use in other fields of study and could be added to, furthering understanding of population changes, dependent on temperature increase.
Local Knowledge Graph (9 entities)
Related Works
Items connected by shared entities, co-authorship, citations, or semantic similarity.