Rapid Assessment of Plant Diversity Patterns: A Methodology for Landscapes |
| |
Authors: | Thomas J Stohlgren Geneva W Chong Mohammed a Kalkhan Lisa D Schell |
| |
Institution: | (1) National Biological Service, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523-1499, U.S.A;(2) Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523-1499, U.S.A |
| |
Abstract: | We present a rapid, cost-efficient methodology to link plantdiversity surveys from plots to landscapes using: (1) unbiasedsite selection based on remotely sensed information; (2) multi-scale field techniques to assess plant diversity; (3)mathematical models (species-area curves) to estimate thenumber of species in larger areas corrected for within-typeheterogeneity; and (4) mathematical techniques to estimatetotal species richness and patterns of plant diversity in alandscape. We demonstrate the methodology in a 754 ha studyarea in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, U.S.A.,using four 0.025 ha and twenty-one 0.1 ha multi-scalevegetation plots. We recorded 330 plant species (1/3 thenumber of plants recorded in the 1074 km2 Park) in the2.2 ha area within the plots: this represents a samplingintensity of 0.29% of the 754 ha study site. We estimated 552plant species, about half the plant species recorded in the Park,in just 0.7% of the Parks area. We show how this rapid,cost-efficient methodology: (1) produces a rich informationbase on the patterns of native plant diversity and thedistribution of non-native plant species and keystoneecosystems; and (2) can be easily adapted for other nationaland state parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, and nature reserves. |
| |
Keywords: | vascular plant diversity botanical surveys species overlap species-area curves keystone ecosystems |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|