SOP #15: Canopy Closure, Version 1.1. Vegetation Monitoring Procedure for the Southern Plains Grassland Protocol
Owen M. 2025. SOP #15: Canopy Closure, Version 1.1. Vegetation Monitoring Procedure for the Southern Plains Grassland Protocol. Southern Plains Network, National Park Service
This Standard Operating Procedure gives step-by-step instructions for sampling overstory canopy closure with a spherical concave densiometer. Canopy closure is the proportion of the sky obscured by vegetation when viewed from a single point. It is measured at three locations along the 50-m transect. Canopy measurements should not occur until the crew has set up and photographed the transect line and completed the Line-Point Intercept procedure (see SOP #6). Procedures are done in this order to avoid trampling vegetation along the transect before it is monitored. This version was implemented during the 2025 field season.
- Type
- Standard Operating Procedure
- Authors
- Owen, Merran
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- Southern Plains Network, National Park Service
- Units
- SOPN
- Keywords
- grasslands, monitoring, sampling, SOPN, Southern Plains Network, vegetation
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Grassland/Herbaceous Communities , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Fire and Fuel Dynamics | Fire and Fuel Dynamics