Wupatki National Monument volcanic upland 2020 data summary: Southern Colorado Plateau Network integrated upland monitoring
Swan M and Veety C. 2022. Wupatki National Monument volcanic upland 2020 data summary: Southern Colorado Plateau Network integrated upland monitoring. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/SCPN/NRDS—2022/1359. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2293459
This report contains a single year snapshot of the data collected by the Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network in 2020 as part of integrated upland monitoring (IUM). IUM includes both vegetation and soil measurements. Field crews collect data on soil stability and hydrologic function, biological soil crusts, and plant community characteristics, including abundance of functional groups, cover by species, richness and diversity, and frequency of nonnative species. In woodland and forested systems, density of saplings and overstory tree species and canopy shading are also measured. Through this monitoring, SCPN seeks to increase understanding of upland systems and provide resource managers with valuable information they can use to help guide management decisions. In 2020, IUM field crews sampled 12 plots in the Volcanic Upland ecological site at Wupatki National Monument. Another 8 plots were scheduled to be sampled in 2020 but, due to the pandemic, the field crew was much smaller than usual and was unable to complete all the plots. Conditions at Wupatki National Monument in 2020 were some of the warmest and driest on record. Live foliar cover of perennial grasses and forbs was extremely low, the lowest we’ve seen since we began monitoring in 2007. The number of Salsola tragus detected increased compared to previous years.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Swan, Megan; Veety, Carrie
- Date of Issue
- 2022-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2293459
- Units
- NRSS , SCPN , WUPA
- Keywords
- biological soil crusts, monitoring, nonnative species, plant community characteristics, plant functional groups, soil stability, Upland vegetation, Volcanic Upland ecological site
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Invasive Species | Invasive/Exotic animals , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Grassland/Herbaceous Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Shrubland Communities