Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Wind Cave National Park: 2018 data report
Manuel RM and Swanson DJ. 2019. Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Wind Cave National Park: 2018 data report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NGPN/NRDS—2019/1197. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2018 at Wind Cave National Park (WICA) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and the Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology (NGPFire) program. During the eighth full year of field work, the NGPN field crew visited eighteen long-term plant community monitoring (PCM) plots to collect data on the plant communities at WICA. The NGPFire crew visited twenty-five PCM plots. In early spring of 2018 NGPFire conducted post-burn severity assessments at an additional eight PCM plots. This is part of a long-term monitoring effort to better understand the condition of the mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine woodlands within the boundaries of WICA. NGPN staff captured data relating to species richness, herb-layer height, abundances of native and non-native species, ground cover, and site disturbance from each PCM plot. In plots where woody species were present, NGPN measured tree regeneration, tall shrub and tree density, and woody fuel load. The NGPFire crew collected data relating to burn severity, herb-layer height, abundance of native and non-native species, ground cover, and target species. Monitoring crews identified 230 species in the 36 monitoring plots visited in 2018 at WICA, 38 of which were exotic species. One plant species identified in the PCM plots visited in 2018 is listed as rare, though not critically imperiled, in South Dakota: nylon hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus viridiflorus). The average absolute cover at plots was 40% for exotics species and 140% for native. Tree density, health, and seedling regeneration, as well as woody fuel loads, were observed at twenty plots. The most common disturbances observed were related to wildfire and animal use (e.g., grazing, game trails, and prairie dogs).
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Manuel, Ryan; Swanson, Daniel
- Date of Issue
- 2019-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NGPN , NRSS , WICA
- Keywords
- fire, Grassland, mixed-grass prairie, monitoring, monitoring report, plant community, plant community monitor, plant diversity, tree, vegetation