Vegetation Dynamics Monitoring Protocol

Vital Signs: Forest, Woodland, Shrubland, and Riparian Vegetation; Invasive Species – Status and Trends; Soil Function and Dynamics; Early Detection of Invasive Species..
Protocol will be implemented: all ERMN parks except UPDE

Justification/Issue being addressed:

Monitoring of vegetation and associated components provides information on several high-priority vital signs in the Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network parks.  The Forest, Woodland, Shrubland and Riparian Vegetation vital sign was ranked as the highest priority in the vital signs selection process.  This protocol primarily details how that Vegetation vital sign will be monitored.  However, the protocol will also collect information on two other vital signs: Soil Function and Dynamics; and Status and Trends of Invasive/Exotic Plants, Animals and Diseases.

Numerous ecological and anthropogenic forces affect the parks’ vegetation. Ecological factors such as geology, soil nutrient availability, weather, and disturbance patterns directly influence the structure, composition, and dynamics of the vegetation. Some anthropogenic stressors are easily identified, such as visitor overuse or loss and fragmentation of habitat due to development inside and outside of the parks. Many changes in forest vegetation over time are often linked to several interacting ecological and anthropogenic factors. Exotic species, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), acid and nutrient deposition, climate change, and altered disturbance regimes are also some important factors affecting the parks’ vegetation.

This protocol will provide park managers with comprehensive long-term data about the status of the parks’ vegetation resources and how they are changing over time.  Availability of these monitoring data will increase managers’ knowledge, improve their ability to steward park resources, and allow them adjust to and mitigate threats to the parks’ vegetation. The proposed monitoring strategy attempts to balance the immediate requirements of managers for current information against the necessity for monitoring long-term changes occurring in terrestrial vegetation over time.

Monitoring objectives:

In general, this monitoring program does not investigate a single question or test a specific hypothesis. Rather, it attempts to collect objective and scientifically defensible data to answer wide-ranging broad hypotheses, some of which may not be finalized at the outset. Data collected through this and other protocols will contribute to our understanding on how environmental factors, ecosystem processes, land use, resource management activities, and ecological and anthropogenic stressors affect vegetation in the parks. Three broad questions guide the monitoring program:

1. How are vegetation composition, structure, and demography changing over time in relation to weather, climate, landscape dynamics, invasive species, deer browse, and natural processes such as gap formation and succession?
2. How are soil and soil fertility changing in relation to acid and nutrient deposition?
3. How do park and network status and trends compare to regional trends, historical data, and desired future conditions?

Principal investigators and NPS lead: Stephanie Perles, ERMN Plant Ecologist, is the lead PI and NPS contact for this project. During the development of the protocol, Dr. James Finley, Professor of Forestry, Pennsylvania State University, was the lead PI.