THE VASCULAR FLORA OF A TRANSECT ACROSS THE BEAVER CREEK WETLANDS, GREENE-COUNTY, OHIO

During the 1989 growing season we surveyed part of the Beaver Creek Wetlands in Greene County, OH, to describe and catalog the vegetation and to determine if a transect oriented through the study site satisfied the mandatory technical criteria for vegetation used by Federal agencies to delineate wetlands. We established 14 plots along the transect and compiled a list of the species occurring within the plots and throughout the rest of the study site. We identified 198 species, including five species on the Ohio list of threatened and endangered species. A majority of species occurring within the study site were classified as hydrophytes. A wetland index was calculated for each plot using weighted percentages of vegetation indicator-categories. Wetland-index values, which expressed changes in wetland character (degree and duration of soil saturation as reflected by proportions of hydrophytes and nonhydrophytes occurring in the plots), were significantly correlated with first-axis scores from a detrended correspondence analysis (DECORANA). This correlation indicated that DECORANA first-axis scores also reflected changes in wetland character along the transect. The wetland index also identified areas that showed a tendency towards seasonal or spatial transition between wetland and nonwetland. According to federal criteria, wetland areas included the 12 interior plots along the transect and part of plot 14, while nonwetland areas included plot 1 and most of plot 14.