

@mastersthesis {7184,
	title = {Characterizing diatom assemblages in ponded wetlands},
	year = {2011},
	note = {1502898},
	school = {The University of Utah},
	type = {phdM.{S}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {{Using biological assemblages for evaluating ecosystem integrity is dependent upon robust sampling techniques that adequately characterize the species composition. This thesis evaluated the performance of a wetland surface-sediment diatom collection methodology. The methodology did not result in collection of 95\% of species present due to the richness of rare species in the ponded wetlands. However, because rare species added little to relative abundance, the method provided a community characterization that separated the communities based upon ponds within complexes and ponds between complexes. The mantel test indicated species distribution was dependent upon pond and complex (p{\textless}.001) with a model matrix of dissimilarity based upon 0, within pond, 1{\textfractionsolidus}2, within complex, and 1, between complex. The Multi-response Permutation Procedure supported the method{\textquoteright}s ability to separate complexes based upon communities (p=.012). The significant p-value is attributed to the very large affect size (A=.45) which adds further credence to the method{\textquoteright}s efficacy. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling ordination was used to graphically interpret the separation of ponds. The ordination shows sizeable separation between complexes, considerable separation between most ponds within a complex, and relatively little separation between replicates. Culling rare species further improved the ordination with 91\% of the variance explained by 2 axes with a stress of 7.35 and a probability of obtaining that stress by a chance of p=.004. The sampling methodology also provided an assemblage that correlated with biotic and abiotic environmental variables. The Mantel test indicated correlation with water chemistry variables (r=0.564},
	keywords = {0329:Ecology, 0474:Environmental management, 0528:Natural Resource Management, Biological sciences, Diatom, Ecology, environment, environmental management, Health and environmental sciences, Natural Resource Management, Ordination, Sampling, Surface-sediment, wetlands},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/913066656?accountid=14270},
	author = {Hultquist, Arne D.}
}
