Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Abstract
The relative rates of detrital decomposition in four vegetation communities within the Everglades' ridge-slough microtopography were evaluated during two trials. Litterbags with community-specific detritus in proportion to each community's composition were put into the four communities; namely, submerged marsh, emergent marsh, short Cladium ridge, and tall Cladium ridge. These litterbags were paired with litterbags containing control leaf litter from Chrysobalanus icaco and Salix caroliniana during the wet and dry season trials, respectively. No regional differences in decomposition were shown, but there were significant differences across communities, attributed to the initial C:N ratio of the detritus, with the fastest decomposition occurring in the deepest submerged marsh followed by emergent marsh, and the shallower ridge communities had equally slower decomposition. Additionally, both controls followed the same pattern. Thus, decomposition contributes to an active self-maintenance mechanism within the vegetation communities which ultimately helps to conserve the ridges and sloughs.
Extent
viii, 43 p. : ill. (some col.).
Recommended Citation
Van, der Heiden Sheryl R, "Differentiating decomposition rates within the ridge-slough microtopography of the central Florida Everglades" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 1442.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/1442
Identifier
FADT166456
Comments
by Sheryl R. van der Heiden.|Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Sheryl R. van der Heiden.