A Floristic Study of Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Camden County, Missouri

Date of Graduation

Spring 1998

Degree

Master of Science in Biology

Department

Biology

Committee Chair

John Heywood

Abstract

Between the fall of 1994 and the Spring of 1996, a list of the vascular flora of Ha Ha Tonka State park (Camden County, Missouri) was compiled from existing herbarium specimens (Ozark Regional Herbarium and Missouri Department of Natural Resources), previous collections made by Marilyn Groves and Rick Humphrey, and new collections by Barbara Farnsworth that have been deposited in the Ozark Regional Herbarium. The 1300 specimens examined included 540 species in 294 genera and 96 families, seven of which are currently listed in Missouri. The vascular flora of Turkey Pen Hollow Savanna natural Area, located within the park, was compared to the previously-characterized floras of two other Missouri savannas, Bennett Spring Savanna (Dallas County) and AB Savanna (Camden County). These three savannas differ significantly for both the mean and frequency distribution across species of the coefficient of conservatism (Ladd, 1996), although the differences are small in magnitude. No significant differences were found in the frequency distributions of physiognomic classes. A greater total number of species was found at Turkey Pen Hollow, but this could simply represent a higher sampling intensity. Each of these savannas is probably fairly representative of the natural savanna communities thought to have covered much of the Ozarks landscape when the first western settlers arrived.

Subject Categories

Biology

Copyright

© Barbara Jane Farnsworth

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Dissertation/Thesis

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