Great Basin Naturalist
Article Title
Abstract
Hanging gardens of the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah, are plant communities growing at permanent seeps on the canyon walls. The gardens are isolated from each other and from other plant communities by vertical expanses of sandstone. Gardens consist mostly of herbaceous species less than 1 m tall. Though not individually species-rich, the hanging gardens are diverse as a group, and very dissimilar.
This study considers two explanations of the heterogeneous distribution of species in hanging gardens. The assemblages of dispersal types in gardens of different spatial attributes and disturbance frequencies are examined. The GH statistic, a log likelihood ratio test, analyzes the incidence of dispersal types among classes of three spatial and two disturbance variables.
The disturbance variables of expected flood frequency and soil depth segregate dispersal types; and the spatial variables of area, distance to possible seed sources, and relative isolation do not. Ferns and mosses, dispersing through spores, dominate a heterogeneous fugitive guild in the flood-prone gardens. Infrequently flooded gardens support more large-seeded species.
Recommended Citation
Malanson, George P. and Kay, Jeanne
(1980)
"Flood frequency and the assemblage of dispersal types in hanging gardens of the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah,"
Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 40:
No.
4, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol40/iss4/8