Spatio-temporal analysis of flowering using Li DAR topography

Spatio-temporal patterns of flowering in forest ecosystems are hard to quantify and monitor. The objectives of this study were to investigate spatio-temporal patterns（e.g. soilssimple slope classesslope aspectand flow accumulation） of flowering around Lake IssaqueenaSouth Carolina（SCUSA） using plant-flowering database collected with GPS- enabled camera（stored in Picasa 3 web albums and project website） on a monthly basis in 2012 and Li DAR-based topography. Pacolet fine sandy loam had the most flowering plantsfollowed by Madison sandy loamboth dominant soil types around the lake. Most flowering plants were on moderately steep（17%–30%） and gently sloping（4%–8%） slopes. Most flowering plants were on west（247.5°–292.5°）southwest（202.5°–247.5°）and northwest（292.5°–337.5°） aspects. Most flowering plants were associated with minimum and maximum flows within the landscape. Chi-square tests indicated differences in the distributions of the proportions of flowering plants were significant by soil typeslopeaspectand flow accumulation for each month（February-November）for all months（overall）and across months. The Chi-square test on area-normalized data indicated significant differences for all months and individual differences by each month with some months not statistically significant. Cluster analysis on flowering counts for nine plant families with the most flowering counts indicated no unique separation by clusterbut implied that the majority of these families were flowering on strongly sloping（9%–16%） slopeson southwest（202.5°–247.5°） aspectsand low flow accumulation（0–200）. Presented methodology can serve as a template for future efforts to quantify spatio-temporal patterns of flowering and other phenological events.