Protocol for Ground-based Monitoring of Vegetation in the Southwest Alaska Network
Miller AE, Thompson WL, Mortenson DC, Moore C. 2010. Protocol for Ground-based Monitoring of Vegetation in the Southwest Alaska Network. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SWAN/NRR—2010/205. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This protocol outlines methods for ground-based monitoring of vegetation in the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN) following a sampling design developed by the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN; Woodward et al. 2009). Vital signs addressed by this protocol are vegetation composition and structure and sensitive plant communities. Standard Operating Procedures (Appendix A) and field data forms (Appendix B) outline sampling procedures. Vegetation is integral to ecosystem function, energy transfer, and element cycling, and serves as a sensitive indicator of environmental conditions. Coastal Aleutian, low Arctic, interior-boreal,and Pacific coastal floras converge in southwest Alaska, resulting in a floristically rich area that supports approximately 60% of the state’s vascular taxa (University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum Herbarium, ARCTOS, 2004). In the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN; Fig. 1), the structure and composition of vegetation are expected to respond to increasing variability in climate and the occurrence of pathogens and pests; increasing occurrence of exotic species; and increasing pollutant loads. Shifts in the structure and composition of sensitive plant communities, in particular, are expected to serve as early indicators of ecosystem change, as these communities often occur at the edge of their environmental tolerance (Spicer and Chapman 1990, Lesica and McCune 2004, Epstein etal. 2004).
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Miller, Amy; Thompson, William; Mortenson, Dorothy; Moore, Claudette
- Date of Issue
- 2010-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- IMDP , NRSS , SWAN
- Keywords
- ground based, Monitoring, Protocol, sensitive plant communities, Structure, Temperature, Vegetation, Vegetation Composition, Vegetation cover, Vegetation diversity, weather monitoring
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Vegetation Complex