Committee Chair

Shaw, Joey

Committee Member

Walker, Richard; Hunt, Nyssa

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

A floristic inventory of Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwestern Georgia was conducted between November 2023 and November 2025. Vascular plant richness was recorded during 52 site visits and was combined with existing herbarium records resulting in the documentation of 665 species and subspecific taxa, representing 361 genera in 122 families. The top three most represented families were Asteraceae (99 taxa; 14.9%), Poaceae (64; 9.6%), and Cyperaceae (52; 7.8%). Twenty-eight rare species were documented, including 10 S1 and 13 S2 species. Two hundred and thirty-four county records were documented with 209 in Dade County and 25 in Walker County. Concurrently with the floristic investigation, species distribution models were created using Maxent for two rare species: Spiraea virginiana (Rosaceae), and Lilium philadelphicum (Lilliaceae). Surveys for the target species at the modeled sites were conducted in Cloudland Canyon State Park, resulting in no new occurrences of the species.

Acknowledgments

This work could never have been completed without the support of my family, friends, and mentors. I would like to thank my parents, Rose and Michael Wall, and my siblings, Beau, Megan, and Jen, who have all provided immense support to me throughout my time in this program. They’ve been supportive ears, provided advice when I was unsure, and have given me feedback on documents and presentations. Additionally, I’d like to give a special thank you to my cat, Briar, who appeared in my life unexpectedly and has since become the best writing buddy I could’ve asked for. I would also like to thank the members of the Shaw lab both past (Sevyn, Meredith, Quinn, Julia), and present (Lynne, Lyra, Kacey, Drew, Hannah) for their friendship, advice, and shared commiseration. Thanks to my committee members Nyssa Hunt and Dr. Rich Walker for their advice and help in my thesis work. Finally, I would like to give massive thanks to my advisor, Joey Shaw. The passion he has for teaching and botany is inspiring, and he has helped me grow immensely as a teacher, presentor, and botanist. I am incredibly appreciative that he welcomed me into his lab and provded so much support to me as I have been on this graduate school journey.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2026

Subject

Botany--Georgia; Plants--Geographical distribution; Rare plants--Georgia

Keyword

Floristics, Botany, Floristic Inventory, Taxonomy, Plant Collections, Species Distribution Modeling, Maxent

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi; 78 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Date Available

5-31-2027

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Available for download on Monday, May 31, 2027

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