Little Calumet Headwaters Nature Preserve is a 108-acre tract of woodland and wetland areas that comprise the headwaters of the Little Calumet River in northwestern Indiana. The preserve, consisting of upland hardwood forests, groundwater seeps, and wetland complex, is an area of high diversity due to its topographical variation. A floristic inventory, plot sampling, and seed bank analysis were used to determine the structure and composition of the plant communities. The flora consists of 298 species (27 exotic) representing 188 genera and 84 families. Dominant vegetation of the forest includes Liriodendron tulipifera, Prunus serotina, Packera aurea and Podophyllum peltatum. Each groundwater seep contains similar plant communities with variant species that depend on water flow and topography. They include species such as Symplocarpus foetidus, Impatiens capensis, and Caltha palustris and lack an extensive woody overstory except for occasional Salix spp. or Cornus spp. The wetland complex contains three distinct areas: an open fen dominated by Leersia oryzoides and Cornus spp.; a marsh dominated by Typha latifolia and Carex lasiocarpa; and a shrub-carr portion dominated by Symplocarpus foetidus, Cornus alternifolia, and Salix nigra. A wetland seed bank study resulted in a total of 46 species representing 33 genera and 22 families. A similarity of 71.7% was determined between the seed bank samples and the above-ground vegetation. The entire preserve has a high floristic quality index (FQI) of 70.1 and average mean coefficient of conservatism of 4.1. The high FQI value is influenced by property size and the number of communities in the preserve.

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Results of a Short-Term BioBlitz of the Aquatic and Terrestrial Habitats of Otter Creek, Vigo County, Indiana

Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (2006)

Daryl R. Karns Donald D. Ruch Robert Brodman Marion Jackson Paul E. Rothrock

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DOCUMENTED CHROMOSOME NUMBERS 1998: 1. CHROMOSOME NUMBERS IN CAREX SECTION OVALES (CYPERACEAE): ADDITIONS, VARIATIONS, AND CORRECTIONS

SIDA, contributions to botany. (1998)

Paul E. Rothrock Anton A. Reznicek

Cyperaceae

Carex

Section (typography)

Chromosome number

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Early succession in a tallgrass prairie restoration and the effects of nitrogen, phosphorus, and micronutrient enrichments

Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (2003)

Paul E. Rothrock Edwin R. Squiers

The past decade has witnessed increased effort to restore prairie on former agricultural land in Indiana. We used the Upland Prairie Restoration to document community changes over a five year post-planting period and to examine the effects of acute fertilization with soil amendments. Growing seasons I and II were characterized by rapidly changing communities of annual weeds. Dominant species included Hibiscus trionum, Cyperus esculentus, Setaria glaiica followed in Year II by Setaria faberi and Ambrosia artemisiifoUa. Prairie grasses {Andropogon gerardii and Sorghastrum nutans) and forbs domi- nated by Rudbeckia hirta and Ratibida pinnata became evident during Years III-V. Prairie species density and cover, as well as their diversity, reached mature stage by Year V. The prairie restoration community showed no important responses to acute additions of phosphate, micronutrient mix, and a combination of phosphate and micronutrients. Nitrogen enrichment, however, promoted weed cover in early stages of community establishment. Weed dominance persisted throughout the five-year period of observation and strongly inhibited the establishment of native prairie species. Our results suggest that successful prairie restoration on former agricultural land should consider management practices that control nitrogen avail- ability.

Andropogon

Dominance (genetics)

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THE VASCULAR FLORA AND VEGETATIONAL COMMUNITIES OF HAYES ARBORETUM IN WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA

Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (2007)

Donald G. Ruch Byron G. Torke Kemuel S. Badger Chris R. Reidy Paul E. Rothrock

An inventory of the naturally occurring or naturalized vascular flora occurring at Hayes Arboretum revealed 525 species representing 316 genera and 97 families. The 12 families containing 57% of the documented species were Asteraceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Rosaceae, Ranunculaceae, Liliaceae. Fabaceae, Brassicaceae, Lamiaceae, Apiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Caprifoliaceae. Of the documented flora, 375 were native and 150 were adventives. A detailed physiognomic analysis is presented. Of the 525 species reported, 305 represent Wayne County records. The Floristic Quality Index (FQI) for the native species is 72.0, while for all species the FQI is 60.8. The mean Coefficient of Conservatism (Cav ) for the native species is 3.7, while for all species the Cav is 2.7. The mean Wetland Indicator Status (W) for the native species is 0.7, while for all species, the mean W is 1.3. The FQI, Cav, and mean W are discussed; and they suggest that Hayes Arboretum is a site with high natural quality that is being com- promised by adventives. The vascular flora of Hayes Arboretum includes one rare species. (Crataegus succulenta), one endangered species (Geranium bicknellii), two threatened species (Thalictrum pubescens and Veronica anagallis-aquatica), and one species on the watch list {Panax qiiinquefolius). Based on hydrology, soil types, and topography, the major community types (beech-maple forest, mixed hardwood forest in various stages of succession, steep slope and upland woods, floodplain woodland adjacent to Culmer's Run, wet meadows, cattail marsh, seeps, ponds, and fields) are described.

Flora

Vascular plant

Herbarium

Cyperaceae

Floristics

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Chromosome Number Changes Associated with Speciation in Sedges: a Phylogenetic Study in Carex section Ovales (Cyperaceae) Using AFLP Data

Aliso (2007)

Andrew L. Hipp Paul E. Rothrock Anton A. Reznicek Paul E. Berry

Phylogenetic analysis of ampliﬁed fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) was used to infer patterns of morphologic and chromosomal evolution in an eastern North American group of sedges (ENA clade I of Carex sect. Ovales). Distance analyses of AFLP data recover a tree that is topologically congruent with previous phylogenetic estimates based on nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) sequences and provide support for four species groups within ENA clade I. A maximum likelihood method designed for analysis of restriction site data is used to evaluate the strength of support for alternative topologies. While there is little support for the precise placement of the root, the likelihood of topologies in which any of the four clades identiﬁed within the ENA clade I is forced to be paraphyletic is much lower than the likelihood of the optimal tree. Chromosome counts for a sampling of species from throughout sect. Ovales are mapped onto the tree, as well as counts for all species in ENA clade I. Parsimony reconstruction of ancestral character states suggest that: (1) Heilborn’s hypothesis that more highly derived species in Carex have higher chromosome counts does not apply within sect. Ovales, (2) the migration to eastern North America involved a decrease in average chromosome count within sect. Ovales, and (3) intermediate chromosome counts are ancestral within ENA clade I. A more precise understanding of chromosomal evolution in Carex should be possible using likelihood analyses that take into account the intraspeciﬁc polymorphism and wide range of chromosome counts that characterize the genus.

Carex

Paraphyly

Maximum parsimony

Cyperaceae

10.5642/aliso.20072301.14

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Geographic Range and Morphological and Chromosomal Variability of Carex molestiformis (Cyperaceae) East of the Mississippi River

Castanea (2011)

Paul E. Rothrock Anton A. Reznicek Charles T. Bryson

Carex molestiformis, described in 1997 as an endemic to the Ozark and Ouachita Mountain regions, is newly collected from Georgia, Mississippi, and Ohio. Herbarium records also have confirmed this species from North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia bringing the overall range of this species to 11 states. A morphological comparison of C. molestiformis from east of the Mississippi River with western populations did not reveal regional differences. Some eastern populations occupied ruderal habitat, namely drier grassy roadsides and hay meadows rather than the river bottom openings typical of western populations. New chromosome counts for this species from the eastern portion of its range confirmed existing reports of n = 37 and also found agmatoploidy with n = 35.

Ruderal species

Carex

Herbarium

Cyperaceae

10.2179/10-031.1

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