Award Date

12-1-2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Life Sciences

First Committee Member

Dale Devitt

Second Committee Member

Donald Price

Third Committee Member

Matthew Petrie

Fourth Committee Member

Stanley Smith

Fifth Committee Member

Ashok Singh

Abstract

Disturbance can come in many different forms. In our studies, we looked at the impact of a solar photovoltaic facility on native plants growing inside and outside of the facility, alteration in precipitation (simulated) on four native shrubs and the impact of applying supplemental water as a function of volume and frequency to establish native shrubs such as might occur at restoration sites. Disturbance is becoming a more common phenomenon in many ecosystems throughout the world, increasing the need for studies that quantify the impact at the plant and ecosystem level. Each research project revealed different plant responses, such as at the solar facility where leaf xylem water potential was found to be significantly more negative outside the facility versus inside the facility (p0.05) indicating tight regulation of plant water status by all four species. A calculated plant water stress index was found to be higher in the -25% treatment compared to the 200% treatment in all species (p

Keywords

Climate Change; Encelia farinosa; Larrea tridentata; Precipitation manipulation; Restoration; Solar Energy Facility

Disciplines

Biology | Environmental Sciences | Plant Sciences | Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

File Format

pdf

File Size

3700 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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