FLORAL INVENTORY AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FAU ECOLOGICAL PRESERVE

The ecological site at the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University, a 0.3 𝑘𝑚2 natural preserve site, is an excellent study in the effects of human disturbance at natural sites. A floral inventory was conducted using stratified sampling of macro plots to determine changes in biodiversity, nonnative species ratios, and wetland species ratios compared to a similar 1990 study. It was found that the site was 25.56% less biodiverse and contained 18.47% more nonnative species in the past thirty years. The percentage of wetland species found decreased 32.80% and upland species have increased by 19.86% in the same time period. These results are consistent with ecological trends found in natural sites in South Florida, a result of human alteration of the land in the past century.