Factors Affecting Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) Abundance in Three Central Pennsylvanian Springs

• Mary Grant

  Juniata College

  Author

• Rowan E Ging

  Juniata College

  Author

This study investigated the distribution of Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) across three different sites around Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and the factors that affect its abundance. Through data collection at Cold Springs, Warm Springs, and Peace Chapel, we examined the relationship between Skunk Cabbage and various environmental factors. These factors included spring water pH, conductivity, and temperature. We examined twenty plots at each of the three sites, with ten on each side of the spring bank, and determined the total count of individual skunk cabbage in each plot. Our study found that conductivity and water temperature both had a positive correlation with skunk cabbage abundance, but pH did not have a significant impact on skunk cabbage abundance.

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