Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Badlands National Park: 2019 data report
Davis MB and Swanson DJ. 2019. Plant community composition and structure monitoring at Badlands National Park: 2019 data report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/BADL/NRDS—2019/1244. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2019 at Badlands National Park (BADL) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and the Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire). This was the ninth year of combined monitoring efforts. Crew members from NGPN visited 19 long-term monitoring plots to collect data on the plant communities at BADL. Data collection at two plots was incomplete, and a 20th plot was not visited, due to weather and time constraints. This work is part of a long-term monitoring effort designed to provide a better understanding of the condition of the vegetation community and how it changes over time. NGPN staff measured species richness, herb-layer height, native and non-native species abundance, ground cover, and site disturbance at each plot. In plots where woody species were present, tree regeneration, tall shrub density, tree density, and woody fuel loads were also measured. The NGPFire crew visited and collected vegetation data at an additional 12 plots in the Pinnacles, Sheep Mountain, and Heck Table Burn Units to better understand the effects of prescribed fire on vegetation. In 2019, the monitoring crews identified 186 unique plant species in 31 monitoring plots. Of those species, 32 were exotic species. In a majority of plots (20 out of 31), there was a greater percent of native species cover compared to exotic species cover. However, exotic plants were found at every plot in BADL. One rare species, Barr's milkvetch (Astragalus barrii), was observed during our surveys.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Davis, Molly; Swanson, Daniel
- Date of Issue
- 2019-11
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BADL , NGPN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Grasslands, mixed-grass prairie, Monitoring, monitoring report, plant community monitor, Plant community monitoring, Plant diversity, Vegetation