Integrated Upland Vegetation and Soils Monitoring for Wupatki National Monument: 2007 Summary Report
DeCoster JK and Swan MC. 2009. Integrated Upland Vegetation and Soils Monitoring for Wupatki National Monument: 2007 Summary Report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/SCPN/NRDS—2009/006. Natural Resource Program Center. Fort Collins, Colorado
The National Park Service Vital Signs Monitoring Program was designed to monitor the status and trends in the condition of park natural resources, providing a strong scientific foundation for decision making and resource conservation for park managers. SCPN and park staff selected two ecological sites to monitor at Wupatki National Monument (WUPA): Limy Upland and Sandstone Upland. The SCPN Upland Monitoring crew implemented monitoring at WUPA in 2007, establishing 10 plots in each ecological site. Field methodology is provided in detail in the SCPN Integrated Upland Protocol. These data represent the first year baseline of sampling at WUPA. The Limy Upland Ecological Site is dominated by grasses, Pleuraphis jamesii in particular, with very low abundance of shrubs, forbs, trees and cacti/ succulents. Species diversity is low in terms of species richness, Shannon diversity and evenness. Only beta diversity is moderately high, indicating high heterogeneity among plots. In contrast, the Sandstone Upland Ecological Site is dominated by shrubs, with low abundance of forbs, trees, and cacti/succulents and variable abundance of perennial grasses. While plot species richness is similar to the Limy Upland Ecological Site, Shannon diversity and Evenness are both higher, and ecological site richness and beta diversity are lower than the Limy Upland Ecological Site. Trees are low in abundance in both ecological sites. Despite the high percentage of total transect length occupied by basal gaps, and by gaps greater than 50 cm in particular, both ecological sites are probably fairly resistant to wind and water erosion due to the high cover of cinders (fine and coarse gravel) on the soil surface.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- DeCoster, James; Swan, Megan
- Date of Issue
- 2009-07
- Publisher
- Natural Resource Program Center
- Units
- NRSS , SCPN , WUPA
- Keywords
- Abundance (Biodiversity), Limy Upland ecological site, Monitoring, Presence (Biodiversity), Sandstone Upland ecological site, Soils, Taxa Links To Datasets, upland ecosystems, Vegetation, Vouchers