Critical loads, and critical load exceedances, of N and S deposition for herbaceous species within NPS units based on Vegetation Mapping Inventory survey plots

Clemens, Cody; Russell, Nicholas; Bell, Michael

This file includes the accompanying dataset developed for the Natural Resource Report "Site-specific Critical Loads of Nitrogen and Critical Loads of Sulfur for Herbaceous Species in National Parks". This dataset was created using a dataset of critical loads of nitrogen (N) and critical loads of sulfur (S) developed by Clark et al. (2019) for 198 herbaceous species. Clark et al. developed these critical loads with species response equations that incorporated the environmental conditions experienced by species. Additionaly, this dataset uses vegetation plots within national parks from the Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI). Vegetation plots containing at least one of the 198 Clark et al. herbaceous species were extracted from the VMI. Environmental condition data were joined to each plot and plugged into the species response equations from Clark et al. for each species occurrence in each plot. This resulted in plot specific critical loads of N and critical loads of S for all occurrences of the 198 herbaceous species within parks. 3-year average N and S deposition data from 2016 - 2018 were taken from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) Total Deposition model (TDep) to evaluate critical load exceedences (NADP, 2021). This dataset includes copies of each of the tables from this report expanded to all 209 parks in the analysis. It also includes the core dataset that includes the species occurrences within each plot labeled by the park that it falls within. This data is also summarized by park creating a species list for each unit with the range of critical loads and exceedances within the boundaries. The critical loads within the dataset are compared against 2016-2018 TDep total N or total S deposition but can be compared to newer deposition data using the geodatabase below to assess how risk of species harm changes through time or compare to historic deposition estimates to assess recovery. The ‘Plot x Species’ sheet provides the list of species found at each plot, the shape of the response to deposition, the critical load calculated from the local environmental conditions, and the level of exceedance based on 2016-2018 TDep Total N or Total S. It also includes columns for whether the points were included in the east/west calculations from this report and whether the plot is from the VMI dataset or the Clark et al. dataset. The ‘Park x Species’ sheet provides a list of species that occur within a park and the CL data for those specific sites. This is useful for a park when you have a target species that acts as habitat, forage, or a species you’re interested in controlling. The columns in this dataset are the number of plot occurrences, the range of critical loads calculated within a park, and the number of sites where a species is in exceedance based on 2016-2018 TDep total N or total S deposition. This dataset is useful to provide a quick summary of known species that respond to N and S deposition and understand if they are at risk of increasing or decreasing based on current conditions. It can also be used to assess which species are on a park’s list of species but are not contained in the VMI plots.

Critical loads, and critical load exceedances, of N and S deposition for herbaceous species within NPS units based on Vegetation Mapping Inventory survey plots

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