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AN ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE LAND PLANTS AND THE COLD& BLOODED VERTEERATES OF THE SAVANEAH RIVER Contract No. AT (07-2) - 11 This invest iga6ionis primarily concerned with studies of the fauna and flora of the Savannah River Project area in order t o provide background information which can be i ded for comparative purposes a t some later date. Having begun the work not long after the start of building operations and before farming had been abandoned inthe area,we believe that a good p,icture of the biological conditions is being obCained within the limits of the groups involved i n our study. Collections from lo3stations scattered over the area have given US 8 fair sampling of biological distribution. 800 species df flowering plants. We have been able t o record over ?[e know that about 50 species of fishes are t o be found inthe streams and ponds ofthe area, and the swamps have yielded sizable collections of amphibians and reptiles. From the botanical standpoint v;e are presently engaged in identify - ing and listing the basidiomycetes, the mosses and liverworts, the ferns, the evergreens, and the flowering plants. From the zoological standpoint our studies are continuing on the fishes,the amphibians, and the reptiles, and since %net spring the fresh-water sponges have been included inthe scope of our work. fect of radioisotopes on their growth. These sponges can be employed as indicators of stream They are t o be used inthe ne&-
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Numerous tr an sects have been run inthe Sand Hills. Tnese tr an sects are uncovering the pattern of plant associa ti cns which are typical of this region. Last June a quantitative analysis of the plants was made i n two parts of the area, one near the Savannah River swamp and the other in the Sand Hills.This has provided information concerning the plant associations tobe expected in fields at the present time, and indicates .the trod df the succession al pattern in the Project area. Our ob serva tim s show that the camphor weed, Heterotheca, i s spreading rapidly and is becoming established as one of the species to be expected i n these abandoned fields. If it has existed here for some time, then it i s assuming a new role as one of the dominant species in plant succession, the other hand, i f it is a comparatively recent immigrant, its present spread must be regarded as a rapid invasion. IVe have noted that part, a t least, of the Savarnah River Project area isa Kerging zone for certain subspecies. salamanders as Desmognat&, Eurycea, and Plethodo;, and such reptiles as the rattlesnake and the yellow bellied terrapin. A s examples, we can cite such The chemical factors involved in the larger streams of the area have been aRalyaed and the amoucts of the minerals affecting the exist m ce of fresh-water sponges have been determined in parts per million, -...r;llth practically no extensive or recent studies of the fauna and flora of the state to assist us, our work on the cold-blooded vertebrates and on the pla rh constitutes the first inventory on a large scale of these Yi lli an E. Hoy, Project Leader The Univer'sity of South Carolina