The purpose of this research is to focus on the response of tree island vegetation structure and composition to changes in hydrology as a result of CERP implementation. Additionally, there is potential work related to using monitoring data to develop tools to measure ecological performance in response to CERP implementation. Budget and scope to be developed separate from anticipated work described above. The project objectives include: Objective 1: To monitor the condition of plant community structure and composition of tree islands. Objective 2: To assess temporal changes in the plant community structure and composition of tree islandsObjective 3: To determine the relationships among the hydrologic regimes of adjacent marshes, other stress variables, and dynamics of vegetation communities on tree islands. Objective 4: To investigate the correlation of spatially explicit long-term vegetation changes in response to hydrological regime changes.
