Degree Type
Thesis
Date of Award
1995
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Botany
Major
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Abstract
Perhaps no state in the Union has suffered such widespread degradation of its natural vegetation as Iowa. Tallgrass prairie (including wet prairie communities, often considered to be wetlands) once covered at least 85% of this state's land area, but more than 99.9% of Iowa's original grasslands have fallen victim to the plow (Smith 1990). Wetlands once covered 11.1% of Iowa's landscape (Dahl 1990), but virtually all of these have been drained to make way for rowcrops (wetlands now cover only 1.2% of Iowa's landscape). Roughly 12 to 20% of the state was covered by forest at the time of settlement by Europeans, but only 6% of the state is forest today (van der Linden and Farrar 1993, Leatherberry et al. 1992, Thomson and Hertel 1981). Furthermore, the majority of the forest fragments that do remain in Iowa are isolated and significantly altered by past grazing and/or logging practices.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-12870
Publisher
Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu
Copyright Owner
William Russell Norris
Copyright Date
1995
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
375 pages
Recommended Citation
Norris, William Russell, "A natural area inventory of Ames, Iowa " (1995). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 313.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/313
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Botany Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Land Use Law Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons
