Vegetation composition and structure - baseline monitoring in the Southwest Alaska Network: 2011 annual summary report
Miller AE, Walton JK, Shulstad A, Moore C. 2012. Vegetation composition and structure - baseline monitoring in the Southwest Alaska Network: 2011 annual summary report. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/SWAN/NRTR—2012/624. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report summarizes the results of baseline vegetation sampling in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (LACL) and Katmai National Park and Preserve (KATM) in 2011. The plots will be revisited every five years, with a subset sampled for two consecutive years. During the 2011 field season, we sampled 35 plots. Of those, we sampled thirteen new plots in LACL and eight in KATM. We also resampled 14 previously established plots. A total of 100 plots have now been established in the two parks, 27 of which are instrumented with soil temperature loggers. The temperature loggers are downloaded annually and will be used to monitor the timing and duration of freeze-thaw periods, snowpack development, and snowmelt. Sixteen monitoring plots have been established within a 5-km radius of remote automated weather stations (RAWS) at Snipe Lake, Upper Coville, and Pfaff. Automated time-lapse cameras installed at Snipe, Upper Coville, and Contact Creek RAWS in August-September, 2010 were downloaded in June, 2011. The cameras will be used to monitor changes in phenology (e.g., leaf-out and senescence) and snowpack. Plot variables were summarized within and across sites for the four vegetation types (closed spruce forest, spruce woodland, low shrub, dwarf shrub). Species richness was greatest at high elevations (>900 m), but only in LACL. Nonvascular species richness, as measured in nested frequency plots, was up to three times greater than for vascular species at a given site. Species of conservation concern included a rare lichen (Cetrelia alaskana) and three rare mosses (Buxbaumia aphylla, Iwatsukiella leucotricha, Rhytidiopsis robusta). No exotic species were found in monitoring plots. Fourteen plots were resampled in 2010-2011. Summary statistics for these plots are compared across years as an estimate of interannual variability. Detection probabilities and sample sizes will be reviewed following repeat sampling in the 2012 field season.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Miller, Amy; Walton, James; Shulstad, Andrew; Moore, Claudette
- Date of Issue
- 2012-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- KATM , LACL , NRSS , SWAN
- Keywords
- Alpine, beetle-kill spruce, Bryophytes, dwarf shrub tundra, Katmai National Park and Preserve (KATM), Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (LACL), Lichens, nonvascular species, Plant Communities, repeat sampling, Soil Temperature, species cover, species occurrence, species of conservation concern, Species Richness, spruce woodland, time-lapse photos, Treeline, Vascular Plants