PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #15: Vegetation Analysis.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
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A comparison of study techniques for evaluating plant species richness in northern hardwood forests.
Twery, Mark1, Wade, Gary1, Myers, Jonathan2, Detmar, Kathie2, Mator, William2, 1 2
ABSTRACT- Species richness is an important measure of biodiversity but varying measurement techniques can result in widely varying estimates. We compared the results of sample plot inventories with extensive inventory searches on a set of 14 2-hectare study blocks located on two secondary northern hardwoods forest sites in the Adirondack Mountains region of New York. The two sites do not differ significantly in complete inventory richness, all plot richness, overstory plot richness, understory (herbs + shrubs) plot richness, or plot capture percentage. Plot sampling consistently and significantly undercaptured the total species richness on all study blocks. The sample plots captured 33 to 57 percent (mean = 45%) of the species richness found by the extensive inventories. Inventory richness was significantly correlated with herb and shrub richness but not at all with overstory richness. Higher percentages of total species richness were captured in the plots on the richer study blocks, possibly indicating greater species evenness in distribution in richer blocks. However, there was no correlation between plot capture percentage and complete inventory richness.
KEY WORDS: species richness, northern hardwood, Adirondack Mountains, plant inventory