An ecological study of the habitat types and their animal components at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Hansen, Paul; Hopkins, Ricky; Hoffman, George

This report delineates the major ecological types (habitat types) of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The information in this report will serve as the basis for discussion, future research, and theorizing about the natural ecological units of the park. Also, the information in this report should prove useful to land management by providing points of reference in the mosaic of vegetation across the landscape of the park. This report will also prove useful as a catelogue of information which will help Theodore Roosevelt National Park assess environmental changes occurring in the park as well as outside the park. Few ecological studies have been done to delimit and characterize vegetation types as well as consider vertebrates of the same vegetation types in a given region. The information in this report will serve as a basis for discussion, future research, and theorizing about the natural ecological units of the Park. Further, the information should be directly applicable to land management in providing points of reference in the mosaic of vegetation across the landscape of the Park. With a minimum of botanical acumen, field technicians will be able to use the key provided to detemine the habitat types. Most of the remaining native prairies of ND are situated in the western part of the state; most of these are currently pastured or mowed for hay and some are the sites of oil exploration. Because so few prairie remnants remain, the need to study and record their basic characteristics seems both apparent and urgent. Specific aims of the present study were the following: to develop a habitat type classification for the vegetation of TRNP, to describe each habitat type on the basis of both reconnaissance and intensively sampled plot data; and to the extent possible relate the habitat types of topography, soils and climate; evaluate the distribution of nongame birds among the habitat types of TRNP, and study in detail certain characteristics of bird populations in relation to vegetation structure and composition and obtain quantitative data on the distribution of small mammals among habitat types; and collect reptiles and amphibians in various localities through THRO.