The Effect of a Stream’s Entrenchment and Bank Height Ratios on the Distribution of Surrounding Plant Communities in South Dakota Prairies

Abstract

This purpose of this research was to determine whether or not the stream bank entrenchedness affected the distribution of the surrounding plant communities. To conduct this study, a team of researchers accessed dozens of stream sites in South Dakota and conducted a number of measurements recording geomorphic data. The team also competed vegetation surveys at each site. After analyzing the data it was determined that no realistic trend could be seen between the bank entrenchedness and the distribution of the surrounding plant communities, but that further study was needed in order to conclude that these variables have no affect on each other. The lack of trend in the data could have been a result of the large number of uncontrolled variables that occur in an outdoor ecological study such as this.