Native Seed Collection - Regions Map

This map was created from USFS, TNC, and EPA data.  It depicts ecoregions we are collecting seed from for our common garden study.  Regions of interest include the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (MAC) in blue, the South Atlantic Coastal Plain (SAC) in purple, and the sandhills (SH) in white, shaded with dots. 

The following map shows potential seed collections sites.  The northernmost property is Alligator River NWR and Osceola NF represents the southernmost extent.

Chesnee Weather and Hexastylis naniflora trends

Thus far, I have been able to compile means for temperature (Min/Max) and precipitation between the Fall of 2006, when our Hexastylis project was initiated, and the Fall of 2010.  We have collected data on plants and flowers from the Fall of 2006 through the Spring of 2011.  Chart 1 shows the temperature and precipitation means by month.  Maximum temps are in orange, minimum temps are in purple and precipitation is shown in blue.  Notice our highest temps were during summer 2007 (prior to Spring 2008 burns) and our lowest precipitation was in the spring of 2008 during the time-frame that our Rx burns occurred.  The lowest summer temps were during 2009 and the following fall and winter had the highest precipitation. [*Sorry about the ridiculously small text, but these charts have not been very cooperative]

Chart 1.

Chart 2 shows the number of plants per square meter during times of data collection (Fall and Spring).  Burn plots are in red and control plots are in green.  The number of plants per square meter between Burn and Control plots were similar throughout the experiment.

Chart 2.

Chart 3 shows the comparison of number of leaves per square meter (only measured during Fall) between Burn and Control plots.  These measures are similar between treatments until Fall of 2009, 18 months post-burn, when we see Burn plots with 1 and a half times as many leaves per square meter.  In Fall 2010, we again see more leaves per square meter although not as great a difference. 

Chart 3.

Chart 4 shows the comparison of flowers per square meter (only measured during Spring) between Burn and Control plots.  These measures were similar throughout the experiment until the Spring of 2010, 24 months post-burn, where Burn plots have over twice as many flowers per square meter than Control plots.  This is also true for Spring 2011 measurements not shown in this chart.

Chart 4.