Vascular plant inventory and ecological community classification for Little River Canyon National Preserve
2008. Vascular plant inventory and ecological community classification for Little River Canyon National Preserve
This project established a baseline for vegetation at Little River Canyon National Preserve in three ways: 1) Ecologists from NatureServe, together with the Alabama Natural Heritage Program, established 47 permanently marked one-hectare circular plots within the park using a random stratified sampling procedure. 2) Ecologists collected data on all unique vegetation communities within the park and identified 18 natural and 9 human-modified or successional vegetation associations (unique ecological assemblages of plants) within the park boundary. 3) Ecologists collected and vouchered 17 specimens, all of which were new to the park. NatureServe worked with photo-interpreters from the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science (CRMS), Department of Geography, University of Georgia, to complete a vegetation map of all of the communities in the park (Jordan and Madden, 2010). Using the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) developed by Natureserve, with additional classes and modifiers, overstory vegetation communities were interpreted from stereo color infrared aerial photographs using manual interpretation methods. Using a minimum mapping unit of 0.5 hectares (MMU = 0.5 ha), polygons representing areas of relatively uniform vegetation were delineated and annotated on clear plastic overlays registered to the aerial photographs. Polygons were labeled according to the dominant vegetation community. The final step of this project was an accuracy assessment on the map. The ultimate goal of the project is to deliver the information described in this report to all interested parties, to inform land management, conservation priorities, and future research at the park, and to ensure that future generations of visitors will visit a park that is both ecologically and historically intact.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Date of Issue
- 2008-06
- Units
- LIRI , VMI
- Keywords
- Accuracy Assessment, Aerial Photography, alliances, Associations, community association, Digital Orthophoto, Digital Spatial Database, DOQ, DOQQ, Field Data, flight line, GIS, GPS, habitat mapping, Inventory Projects, Landcover, Landscape, National Park, National Park Service Inventory, National Vegetation Classification Standard, National Vegetation Classification System, NVCS, Orthophoto, Plots, U.S. National Vegetation Classification, USNVC, USNVCS, Vegetation Inventory, Vegetation Inventory Report, Vegetation Map Report, Vegetation Mapping, Vegetation Plots