SWAN Monitoring Sensitive Plant Community
Southwest Alaska Network. SWAN Monitoring Sensitive Plant Community. 2003. National Park Service
Small changes in the environment may have substantial effects on plant communities that are strongly controlled by physical factors (e.g., hydrology, snow cover), or on species that occur at the edge of their range. Sensitive communities targeted for monitoring in Southwest Alaska parklands include (1) nunataks, or high-elevation ridges that are thought to have acted as refugia for plants and animals during the Last Glacial Maximum; and (2) salt marshes, which provide critical foraging habitat for brown bears, nursery areas for fish and shellfish, and staging grounds for migrating waterfowl. Monitoring objectives for nunatak communities are to estimate long-term changes in species richness, abundance, and cover using the sampling design outlined in the protocol for Vegetation Composition and Structure [link]. A separate protocol for salt marshes includes standard operating procedures for measuring topographic gradients, soil characteristics (salinity, pH), and vegetation (species richness, cover). Monitoring in salt marshes is focused on detecting changes in the distribution and composition of dominant species across topographic and salinity gradients. Sensitive plant communities are monitored in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, and Kenai Fjords National Park.
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Southwest Alaska Network
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- KATM , KEFJ , LACL , SWAN
- Keywords
- nunatak, salt marsh
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Vegetation Complex
Program
Products
- Protocol for Monitoring Coastal Salt Marshes in the Southwest Alaska Network
- Sensitive Plant Communities
- Monitoring coastal salt marshes in the Lake Clark and Katmai National Parklands of the Southwest Alaska Network
- Vascular plant inventory and baseline monitoring of nunatak communities 2005, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and Kenai Fjords National Park
- Nunataks
- Salt Marshes
- Nunatak vegetation monitoring in the Southwest Alaska Inventory & Monitoring Network: Summary report, 2005–2016
- Monitoring vegetation change in coastal marshes of Southwest Alaska, 2007–2018
- Monitoring vegetation change in coastal marshes of Southwest Alaska, 2007–2018, harmonized data inputs
- SWAN Salt Marsh 2007, 2008 and 2018 Survey Datasets Data Package
- Nunatak Monitoring by the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN): 2005-2016 — Data Package
- Nunatak Monitoring by the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN): 2005-2016 — Processing Script