Assessing the Heterogeneous Landscape of an East Texas Golf Course Using Principles of General and Landscape Ecology.

摘要

Utilizing general ecology and landscape ecology concepts, an ecological study was conducted at the Pineywoods Country Club (PWCC) in Nacogdoches, TX to determine if edge effects and biodiversity differences could be found among the introduced and remnant patches of the fragmented golf course landscape. This study focused on the out-of-bounds areas, which served as remnant patches of the surrounding Pineywoods forest. No pattern was observed in the percent cover of three vegetative strata including canopy cover, biodiversity indices, tree density, or other ground-covering materials such as leaf litter. Edge effects, associated with fragmentation and successional trends, and biodiversity differences among the edge and interior plots within the out-of-bounds patches could not be found due to the effects of human and natural disturbances that had occurred on the property. Beta diversity measures did suggest that the PWCC landscape was very diverse and Simpson's index suggested that fewer dominant species were observed in the interior of the remnant patches. The disturbance regime dating back to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 was discussed as it pertained to the remnant patches.