Davidsonia

Esson,H., Heiss,A., Sears,C., and Temmel,N. 2006. Comparison of Two Garry Oak Sites Undergoing Restoration on Southeastern Vancouver Island: a Preliminary Study. Davidsonia 17(3):87-97

Garry oak ecosystems represent unique species-rich communities in the Pacific Northwest United States and southwestern Canada. These distinct ecosystems are becoming rare as their integrity is threatened by urban and agricultural encroachments, as well as by the introduction of non-native plant taxa. We visited two Garry oak parklands, one that had been heavily impacted until recently by grazing cattle, and one that has been protected from such anthropogenic activities for several years and currently has an active restoration program. We compared the quantitative occurrence and compositional variation of six regionally common plant species between these two sites using univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Our results showed clear differences in the quantitative patterns of abundance and overall variation among species between the two sites. These results indicate that the restoration efforts at Site 2 have promoted greater coverage of native species and greater community variation, both considered to be positive indicators of biodiversity for this ecosystem.