ROMN Alpine Vegetation Composition Structure and Soils (AVCSS)

Witwicki, Dana

The Rocky Mountain Inventory & Monitoring Network (ROMN) includes a wide range of environments, ranging from mountain peaks to evergreen and deciduous forests to Western grasslands. The six units of the Network include Glacier National Park, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Here, we present a protocol to inventory and monitor alpine vegetation within the three mountainous units of the Network (Glacier National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and Rocky Mountain National Park). The objectives of the Alpine Vegetation Composition, Structure, and Soil (AlpineVCSS) Monitoring Protocol are to: 1. Determine the status and trend in vegetation composition and structure of four sentinel alpine peak communities at a range of elevations. 2. Determine status and trend in cover of invasive and exotic plant species at four sentinel alpine peak communities at a range of elevations. 3. Determine the status and trend in soil temperature and snow cover period of four sentinel alpine peak communities at a range of elevations. 4. Determine the status and trend in soil condition based on a suite of physical and chemical properties that include: soil carbon and nitrogen content, pH, evidence of erosion, extent of bare (non-vegetated) soils at four sentinel alpine peak communities. 5. Determine the status and trend of herbivore disturbance based on the presence of feces, trampling, and browsing damage at four sentinel alpine peak communities at a range of elevations. A sixth “optional” objective is to determine status in vegetation structure, species composition, natural and anthropogenic disturbance and soil condition in alpine tundra within the parks. The ROMN would consider adding this objective should increased network funding allow us to characterize the status of vegetation and soils throughout alpine communities in the parks, not just at four select sentinel sites in each park. To meet the AlpineVCSS objectives we have adapted methods from the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), an international monitoring network established in 2001 to assess and predict biodiversity changes in alpine communities in response to broad drivers such as climate. The methodology is extended by cooperators, such as the ROMN, to create a long-term monitoring network at the global scale. We use the GLORIA sampling design, which is a sentinel site approach, where vegetation is monitored on four summits in a region, or park, that vary in elevation from treeline to the limits of vascular plants. Species diversity, ground cover, browsing and trampling pressure, and soil temperatures are measured in an array of plots on the summit set in all cardinal directions. In addition to the components of the GLORIA protocol, the AlpineVCSS extends the monitoring to include measures of soil condition and chemistry, natural and human disturbance, phenology, and photographic documentation of treeline. The sentinel sites will be monitored annually or every 5 years, as funding allows. We also develop optional methods for spatially-balanced probabilistic survey designs of alpine vegetation that can be implemented in the future. Ultimately, we aim for the ROMN AlpineVCSS protocol to provide a robust method for measuring status and trend in alpine vegetation and soils in the parks and to provide data that can be used in collaboration with other networks and programs to monitor climate change and its effects on alpine communities across the globe.

ROMN Alpine Vegetation Composition Structure and Soils (AVCSS)

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