Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site plant community composition and structure monitoring: 2011 annual report

Ashton IW, Prowatzke M, Bynum M, Shepherd T, Wilson SK, Paintner-Green K. 2012. Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site plant community composition and structure monitoring: 2011 annual report. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/NGPN/NRTR—2012/528. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) was established to develop and provide scientifically credible information on the current status and long-term trends of the composition, structure, and function of ecosystems in thirteen parks located in North and South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, and Nebraska. NGPN identified upland plant communities, exotic plant early detection, and riparian lowland communities as vital signs that can be used to better understand the condition of terrestrial park ecosystems. Upland and riparian ecosystems are important targets for vegetation monitoring because the status and trends in plant communities provide critical insights into the status and trends of other biotic components within those ecosystems. In 2011, NGPN began plant community monitoring in Fort Union Trading Post National Historic site (FOUS). We sampled vegetation at 6 long-term monitoring plots between July 29th and August 1st and recorded a total of 104 vascular plant species. This effort was the first year in a multiple-year venture to understand the status of upland plant communities in FOUS. At the end of 5 years, there will be an in-depth report describing the status of the plant community. In this report, we provide a simple summary of our results from sampling in 2011. We found the following: • Absolute vascular plant cover was high due to a wet spring and grasses and sedges made up the bulk of vascular plant cover at all sites. • The sites at FOUS had a moderate diversity of vascular plants. Average native species richness in the 10 m 2 quadrats was 9.5 ± 6.78 species (mean ± standard deviation) as compared to a range of 15-20 species seen in grasslands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. • Two exotic grasses, smooth brome and created wheatgrass, were common across the plots we visited. However, total cover of exotic species was relatively low.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Ashton, Isabel; Prowatzke, Michael; Bynum, Michael; Shepherd, Timothy; Wilson, Stephen; Paintner-Green, Kara
Date of Issue
2012-01
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
FOUS , NGPN , NRSS
Keywords
Grasslands, Monitoring, monitoring report, plant community monitor, Plant community monitoring, Plant diversity, Vegetation

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