Quantifying Plant Community Change at Waterton Lakes National Park Over the Past 25 Years
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QUANTIFYING PLANT COMMUNITY CHANGE AT WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS JED IMMANUEL LLOREN Bachelor of Science Honours, Carleton University, 2018 A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Jed Immanuel Lloren, 2021 QUANTIFYING PLANT COMMUNITY CHANGE AT WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS JED IMMANUEL LLOREN Date of Defence: June 15, 2021 Dr. J.L. McCune Assistant Professor PhD Thesis Supervisor Dr. L. Flanagan Professor PhD Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. E. Schultz Professor PhD Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. L. Chasmer Assistant Professor PhD Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. R. Laird Associate Professor PhD Chair, Thesis Examination Committee DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to those that battle with mental illness. May you find the strength within yourself to keep pushing forward and achieve everything you desire. iii ABSTRACT Plant communities are changing in response to natural and anthropogenic drivers. However, we know little about how different drivers have affected Rocky Mountain plant communities over the past few decades. In 2017, a wildfire burned 50% of the vegetation at Waterton Lakes National Park, located in Canada’s southern Rocky Mountains. Using re-surveys of vegetation plots established in the 1990s, I quantified changes in plant community diversity and composition over the past two decades. I found that fire severity interacted with human disturbance to affect species richness and community composition. I also found that burned and unburned plots are experiencing diverging trajectories. Herbaceous and short-lived species have become more prominent in burned plots, whereas unburned plots are becoming increasingly characterized by woody species. Ecologists should continue conducting legacy studies as they have the potential to expand our theoretical understanding of community assembly and inform management decisions. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’m not sure what words would do this paragraph justice. I feel very fortunate to have had Jenny McCune as my thesis supervisor. You hear a lot of horror stories about terrible advisors in academia and every story I hear continues to make me think I’ve won the lottery. She was very supportive through the entire duration of my program and genuinely cares for her students. When we first met in March 2017, I never envisioned being able to work together in grad school as well. I feel like I’ve learned and grown so much since then. Thank you for your patience over the years and for being the best supervisor. Thank you to Elizabeth Schultz, Laura Chasmer, and Larry Flanagan for helping me make this thesis as good as it can be. I appreciate all the guidance and advice you gave me as my supervisory committee during my program. This project also would not have been possible without the original surveys conducted by Dr. Peter Achuff. It was a pleasure to have been able to go into the field and conduct surveys with him. His willingness to answer my numerous emails throughout my program is very much appreciated. I would also like to thank my fearless field assistants, without whom I would not have been able to do this project. Whether it was a tough three-hour, 300m stretch of hiking up Bertha Mountain or multiple bear encounters (Cooper Hayward), a long 15- hour field day (Kirsty McFadyen), or summiting Sofa Mountain (David Musk), all of you were always more than willing to keep pushing on. Thanks for bearing with me while I learned the plants we have in Waterton and letting me mentor you in the field. I hope you v had as much fun as I did and that your interest in ecology grew because of your field experiences. I would also like to thank Madison Demers for her help in collecting plant traits for the different species found during the ELC surveys. There were more than 400 plant species on the list I gave you, I don’t think you understand how grateful I am for that work you did. Members of the McCune Lab. I really enjoyed being in the lab with you, albeit mostly in a virtual sense. It’s a shame we weren’t able to spend more time in-person due to the circumstances. I would also like to mention Kanishka Madushanka, Kristian Smits, Haley Allard, Utsab Pageni, and Sarah Hirtle for being great friends during my time as a graduate student at the University of Lethbridge. Thanks to Robert Sissons, Amanda Jenkins, Adam Collingwood, Genoa Alger, and everyone else at Waterton Lakes National Park for helping me organize my field seasons and giving me the support I needed to complete this project. Also, thank you to the 2019 summer students for their assistance in conducting plant surveys: Colton Hawkes, Delaney Maher, Emily Gavey, Emily Swerdfager, Gabriel Wilson, Katie Tribe, Kristan Blais, Sam Williams, and Taylor Veperts. Parks Canada provided funding for this research and permission to conduct plant surveys at Waterton Lakes National Park. Although not directly involved in this project, I would like to thank my past mentors. Joseph Bennett and Chris Elvidge from Carleton University for helping me become a better academic. Hanna Rosner-Katz for teaching me how to be a good leader in the field and being welcoming of any questions and interactions with undergraduates I vi get the pleasure of working with. Steven Alexander from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for helping me sharpen my research skills through several projects. Thank you to my friends and family – Imelda, Jimmy, Jesse, and Iona – for their continuous support throughout my degree, even if they still don’t really know what ecology is. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ iii Abstract............................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... v List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... xi List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................................13 1.1 Background ...........................................................................................................................13 1.1.1 Drivers of plant community change ..........................................................................16 1.1.2 Documenting winners and losers .............................................................................19 1.1.3 The study site ............................................................................................................20 1.2 Objectives ..............................................................................................................................20 1.3 Thesis organization ...............................................................................................................21 Chapter 2: The roles of wildfire, environmental factors, and human disturbance on plant community change over 25 years ..................................................................................................23 2.1 Abstract .................................................................................................................................23 2.2 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................24 2.3 Methods ................................................................................................................................29 2.3.1 Study area ......................................................................................................................29 2.3.2 Data collection ...............................................................................................................32 2.3.3 Analyses .........................................................................................................................36 Regional scale responses ...................................................................................................36 Plot-level responses ...........................................................................................................37 2.4 Results ...................................................................................................................................43 2.4.1 Response across all plots ...............................................................................................43 2.4.2 Plot-level responses .......................................................................................................47 2.5 Discussion ..............................................................................................................................51 2.5.1 Natural pressures as drivers of community change: the role of the Kenow Fire ..........52 2.5.2 Natural pressures as drivers of community change: the role of succession and forest encroachment .........................................................................................................................56