Alpine Plant Communities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire-

Antioch University AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive Dissertations & Theses Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses 2019 Alpine Plant Communities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire: Aboveground Plant Diversity and Abundance Correlated to Belowground Factors Timothy Maddalena-Lucey Antioch University of New England Follow this and additional works at: https://aura.antioch.edu/etds Part of the Environmental Education Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, and the Natural Resources and Conservation Commons Recommended Citation Maddalena-Lucey, Timothy, "Alpine Plant Communities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire: Aboveground Plant Diversity and Abundance Correlated to Belowground Factors" (2019) Dissertations & Theses 476 https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/476 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses at AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations & Theses by an authorized administrator of AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive For more information, please contact dpenrose@antioch.edu, wmcgrath@antioch.edu Department of Environmental Studies THESIS COMMITTEE PAGE The undersigned have examined the thesis entitled: Alpine Plant Communities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire: Aboveground Plant Diversity and Abundance Correlated to Belowground Factors Presented by: Timothy Maddalena-Lucey Candidate for the degree of Master of Science and hereby certify that it is accepted.* Committee chair name: Peter Palmiotto, D.F Title/Affiliation: DF Professor, MS Program Director, Academic Adviser Committee member name: Charles Cogbill, Ph.D Title/Affiliation: Harvard Forest Associate Date Approved by all committee members: *Signatures are on file with the Registrar’s Office at Antioch University New England Alpine Plant Communities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire: Aboveground Plant Diversity and Abundance Correlated to Belowground Factors A Thesis Presented to the Department of Environmental Studies Antioch University New England In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science By Timothy Maddalena-Lucey April 2019 Dedication In loving memory of Linda Ann Maddalena-Lucey A creative inspiration and caring soul i Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr Peter Palmiotto and Dr Charles V Cogbill for their support and advice throughout the process of this thesis Without the foundational work of Dr Charles V Cogbill in 1993 I would have had little framework for a repeatable method to base this study on Without the guidance and encouragement of Peter Palmiotto this study would not have been possible I would also like to thank Dr Lisabeth Willey for the statistical support needed to complete as well as Dr Rachel Thiet for soil science support I would like to thank Dr David Peart of the Moosilauke Advisory Committee and Dr Daniel Sperduto, Erica Roberts, and Robert A Colter of White Mountain National Forest Research Division and Regional Forest Supervisor Clare Mendelsohn for allowing me to conduct research on the summit of Mount Moosilauke I would also like to thank Dr Laura Spence, David S Gilligan, and Richard Smyth Naturalist Emeritus for encouraging, guiding, and overseeing the work I conducted on Moosilauke in 2015 as part of my undergraduate research capstone Without their continued support and correspondence this thesis would not have been possible Organizations and institutions I have been in correspondence with regarding sponsorship, networking, and support include AMC research, Beyond Ktaadn, White Mountain National Forest Research, Dartmouth College, The Waterman fund, UMASS Amherst research department and the Center for Circumpolar Studies Notable field researchers, past and present, that were very helpful throughout the process of this study include: Dr Lawrence C Bliss, and Dr William Dwight Billings, Dr Robert Capers, Dr Steven Young, Dr Michael T Jones, and Doug Weihrauch from the AMC I would also like to thank my family for their constant support throughout this process ii Abstract Alpine plant communities are fragile complex systems that may be threatened by climate change Patterns of climate-driven soil warming are shown to have lasting effects on ecosystem nutrient cycles, alpine plant phenology, and belowground soil biotic activity There are concerns in the alpine mycorrhizal research community as to how belowground fungal biomass will react to climate-driven soil warming To address these concerns I asked in this study what are the correlations between belowground factors such as collective ectomycorrhizal (EcM) and ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) percent colonization, pH, and soil depth to bedrock and aboveground plant diversity and richness In 2018, on Mount Moosilauke, the southernmost peak in the White Mountain National Forest, I resampled 71m² plots along five transects initially established in 1993 and resampled in 2015 In each plot both vascular and non-vascular plant species richness, bare soil, exposed rock, and dead organic matter were assessed via percent cover and soil depth was measured Soil was extracted (organic and mineral material) in nine plots per transect for pH testing and EcM/ErM analysis The most significant increase in species richness, which was found in the Western fellfield community may indicate a shift in composition The most significant negative relationship was between soil depth and species richness, and the most significant positive relationship was between soil pH and EcM/ErM colonization in the Southeast heath (T3) community Soil pH, especially when associated with long-term acidification from atmospheric nitrogen deposition, can be a driver for reducing EcM/ErM diversity and richness in Northern temperate and boreal forest ecosystems Given these relationships, one could assert that a combination of continued nitrogen deposition will drive the pH levels in alpine plant communities even lower and subsequently drive EcM/ErM diversity down leaving an opportunity for the more acidophilic mycorrhizae and their specialist conifer partners perhaps providing a mechanism for tree line encroachment into the alpine The effects of climate warming and ongoing nitrogen deposition on plant productivity, phenology, and composition are of great concern to the alpine research community More research is needed in these areas to help guide future conservation needs iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF FIGURES vi INTRODUCTION Abiotic Factors Ectomycorrizae Ericoid Mycorrhizae METHODS 12 Study Site 12 Sampling Design 13 Sample Collection 14 Lab Methods 15 Data Analysis 18 RESULTS 35 Aboveground Change 36 Belowground 36 DISCUSSION 47 Aboveground Changes 47 Soil Depth and EcM/ErM 51 Soil pH 53 Future Changes and Conservation Initiatives 54 LITERATURE CITED 66 Appendix A 75 Appendix B 77 Appendix C 79 iv List of Tables Table Environmental data for 2018 survey Includes transect length, quadrat interval, and soil quadrat placement 22 Table Summary statistics for two aboveground variables (response) and three belowground variables (predictor) by five plant communities and in total for the full survey (n=71) The ‘Mean’ column reads as ‘ ± Std (‘n’) and the ‘Range’ column displays the minimum and maximum values of the corresponding dataset Bolded values represent minimum and maximum values in their respective datasets 23 Table Paired t-test comparison of mean plant species richness and diversity from 2015 to 2018 by transect and for the full survey (n=71) Alpha was set to 05 and all statistically significant pvalues were bolded 39 Table Comparison of mean variances of aboveground and belowground variables at the soil survey level (n=45) by community type/ transect (n=9) Bolded values represent the variance that stands out at least one power/decimal point higher or lower than all others 41 Table Single factor ANOVA table for EcM/ErM percent colonization (n=45) by transect/community (n=9) 42 Table Results of a Shapiro-Wilk’s test of normality for all variables on both the full survey (n=71) and soil survey (n=45) level Bolded p-values depict variables that fit the normality assumption 43 Table Mean species percent cover by transect/community for 2015 and 2018 The ‘X’ represents a mean percent cover of zero or less than 1% Species are listed top to bottom by morphological class (i.e., Tree, shrub, graminoid, forb, bryophyte, and lichen) 43 Table Results for species richness values in four categories: vascular plants, non-vascular bryophytes, lichenous vegetation, and all plants Richness values were calculated using percent cover totals for each category through a “Welch Two-Sample” t-test Values were compared for each of the five plant communities as well as all communities as a whole Significant differences in richness (p