Alpine vegetation and soils monitoring in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve: 2010–2015 data report

Tortorelli, Claire; Kuhn, Bernadette; Borgman, Erin; Stevens, Joe; Baldvins, Tom; Britten, Mike

In 2008, the Rocky Mountain Inventory and Monitoring Program identified and installed alpine vegetation and soils long-term monitoring sites on four summits in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA) following a protocol developed by the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA). The goals of monitoring the GRSA summit sites are to determine the status and trends in vegetation composition and structure, soil condition and temperature, invasive plant cover, and anthropogenic and natural disturbances. The GRSA alpine monitoring sites were installed and monitored according to an adapted version of the GLORIA protocol in 2009 and 2010, and they were resurveyed according to the same protocol in 2015. In this report, we present a summary of our 2015 monitoring efforts and compare vegetation and soils data between the 2010 and 2015 monitoring years. We found the following: ● In 2015, a total of 96 vascular plant species were documented on the four monitoring summits. This includes thirty-six species that were not identified during the 2009/2010 sampling effort. ● Species richness increased on all summits between monitoring years, though the increase was not statistically significant and could be a result of increased knowledge of the flora. Vegetative cover and dominant species remained relatively constant. ● In 2010 and 2015, the impact of non-native species within the monitoring sites was low with only one species (Taraxacum officinale) observed on two of the four summits. ● There was no significant increase in soil temperature during the monitoring period. There was some significant change in several soil chemistry parameters. In particular, there was a significant increase in ammonium and phosphorus that could be a result of deposition. ● Anthropogenic and natural disturbances were qualitatively assessed for all summits as was done in 2010. We found little evidence of natural or anthropogenic disturbances within the monitoring sites. In 2010 and 2015, we found the alpine tundra at the four monitoring sites in GRSA to be a system little impacted by human disturbance or exotic species. Climate change and increased atmospheric deposition of nutrients are likely the greatest threats to alpine systems in the park. Continued monitoring of the vegetation and soil temperatures at monitoring sites will allow us to determine whether climate change or other stressors correlate with changes in biodiversity and community composition in the alpine.

Alpine vegetation and soils monitoring in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve: 2010–2015 data report

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