Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)
Date of Award
12-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Chair
Jeremiah Henning, Ph.D.
Advisor(s)
Jonathan H. Perez, Ph.D., Kevin J. Morse, Ph.D.
Abstract
Coastal dune ecosystems face ongoing threats from human-mediated disturbance and altered resource availability. Because these dunes provide critical habitat for many organisms, including shorebirds, beach mice, and arthropods, changes in disturbance regimes or resource availability can impact plant communities and higher trophic levels by altering plant richness and productivity, which in turn influence arthropod abundance and diversity. To examine how disturbance and nutrient addition affect arthropod communities, we established twenty 5×5 m plots on Dauphin Island, crossing mechanical disturbance with a 10 g m⁻² addition of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, replicated across five experimental blocks. Arthropods were sampled using three pitfall traps per plot collected weekly in the summers of 2022 and 2023, then identified to family, grouped into functional guilds, and enumerated. Using structural equation modeling, we found that coastal dune plant and arthropod communities were largely resistant to disturbance, but nutrient enrichment (NPK addition) indirectly altered arthropod communities through shifts in plant richness and forb biomass, highlighting how post-disturbance nutrient inputs can reshape trophic linkages within these ecosystems.
Recommended Citation
Beitzel, Kayla, "Impacts of Nutrient Addition and Disturbance on Coastal Dune Arthropod Communities and Trophic Interactions" (2025). Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present). 242.
https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/theses_diss/242
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