Vegetation Inventory, Mapping and Accuracy Assessment Report Information for Russell Cave National Monument, as part of the NPS Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program
Schotz A, Hall M, White R, NatureServe. 2007. Vegetation Inventory, Mapping and Accuracy Assessment Report Information for Russell Cave National Monument, as part of the NPS Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program
The first step in any effort to monitor the “vital signs” or ecological health of a tract of land is to develop a baseline from which to measure and gauge trends. We established a baseline for Russell Cave National Monument in three ways: 1) Ecologists from NatureServe and the Natural Heritage Network established 12 permanently marked one-hectare circular plots within the park. In addition, ecologists established one observation point inside the park boundary. The permanently marked plots are available to be used by researchers on studies ranging from bird point counts to individual plant monitoring. 2) Ecologists collected data on all unique vegetation communities within the park and identified eight natural and two human-modified or successional vegetation associations (unique ecological assemblages of plants) within the park boundary. The rarest community inside the park boundary is the Shumard Oak -Chinquapin Oak Mesic Limestone Forest (G2G3). 3) For this project, ecologists collected and vouchered seven specimens representing seven species new to the park. These vouchers were added to the existing list of vouchers already collected. The vouchers were delivered to NPS in Summer 2006. The species count for the park stands now at 460 fully documented species (not including subspecies and varieties). NatureServe ecologists estimate that 85-98% of the vascular species of the park are documented. The most highly globally ranked species native to the site in the park is stoneroot (Collinsonia verticillata, G3).
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Schotz, Al; Hall, Mark; White, Rickie; NatureServe
- Date of Issue
- 2007-01
- Units
- RUCA , 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