Demography and threats to population growth of Cirsium pitcheri, a threatened dune plant, in Wisconsin

Pati Vitt*, E. Binney Girdler, Jeffrey M. Gorra, Tiffany M. Knight, Kayri Havens

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Multi-year and multi-site demographic data for rare plants allow researchers to observe threats and project population growth rates and thus long-term persistence of the species, generating knowledge, which allows for effective conservation planning. Demographic studies across more than a decade are extremely rare but allow for the effects of threats to be observed and assessed within the context of interannual environmental variation. We collected demographic data on the Threatened plant Cirsium pitcheri in two sites from 2011–2022. These sites were chosen because one exhibited the presence of non-native seed predators while the other did not, and we hypothesized that we would see declines and potentially extinction of the population threatened by predation. Over the course of our study, we observed additional threats, such as human trampling and high lake levels, which led to significant erosion, sand burial, and storm damage to plants. We find high interannual variation in vital rates and population growth rates for both populations, which mask the overall effects of predation. We observed dramatic declines in plant survivorship and population growth rates in both sites in the years with high lake levels. We conclude that high lake levels, which are expected to become more frequent with climate change, pose a significant threat to all near-shore populations of C. pitcheri.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere10870
JournalEcology and Evolution
Volume14
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2024

Funding

We would like to thank the many colleagues, graduate students, interns, friends, and family members who happily assisted with (or were coerced into) data collection, including Claudia Jolls, Alyssa Hakes, Dan Sandacz, Jake Meunier, Christopher Warneke, Finote Gijsman, Shannon Still, Jessamine Finch, Adrienne St. Clair, Carolyn Rock, Darcy Kind, Allison Brackley, Courtney Devoid, Pairsa Belmaric, Beatriz Viegas, Riley Book, Kenneth Jops, Joel Abraham, Ben Barteau, Michael Kaster, Robin Colburn, John Eskendari, Terry Horton, Jennifer Schwarz, Eric Young, Zoe Young, Emma Iffrig, and Darwyn Vitt‐Gorra. In addition, we acknowledge the Wisconsin DNR and Jody Milske and Jesse Koyen of the Door County Land Trust for permission to conduct this study on their land. We would also like to offer our thanks to our funders; portions of this work were supported by several NSF REU site grants to the Chicago Botanic Garden (#1062675, 1461007, 1757800, 2149888), an NSF LTREB grant (#0516058), two Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants, and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants to KH. TMK was supported by recruitment fellowships by the Helmholtz Association and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Finally, we thank the Kramer‐Havens Lab and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We would like to thank the many colleagues, graduate students, interns, friends, and family members who happily assisted with (or were coerced into) data collection, including Claudia Jolls, Alyssa Hakes, Dan Sandacz, Jake Meunier, Christopher Warneke, Finote Gijsman, Shannon Still, Jessamine Finch, Adrienne St. Clair, Carolyn Rock, Darcy Kind, Allison Brackley, Courtney Devoid, Pairsa Belmaric, Beatriz Viegas, Riley Book, Kenneth Jops, Joel Abraham, Ben Barteau, Michael Kaster, Robin Colburn, John Eskendari, Terry Horton, Jennifer Schwarz, Eric Young, Zoe Young, Emma Iffrig, and Darwyn Vitt-Gorra. In addition, we acknowledge the Wisconsin DNR and Jody Milske and Jesse Koyen of the Door County Land Trust for permission to conduct this study on their land. We would also like to offer our thanks to our funders; portions of this work were supported by several NSF REU site grants to the Chicago Botanic Garden (#1062675, 1461007, 1757800, 2149888), an NSF LTREB grant (#0516058), two Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants, and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants to KH. TMK was supported by recruitment fellowships by the Helmholtz Association and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Finally, we thank the Kramer-Havens Lab and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Keywords

  • Cirsium pitcheri
  • climate change
  • conservation of rare plant species
  • habitat disturbance
  • Lake Michigan
  • population ecology
  • seed predation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Ecology
  • Nature and Landscape Conservation

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