Vascular Plant Inventory and Plant Community Classification for Mammoth Cave National Park
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VASCULAR PLANT INVENTORY AND PLANT COMMUNITY CLASSIFICATION FOR MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK Report for the Vertebrate and Vascular Plant Inventories: Appalachian Highlands and Cumberland/Piedmont Network Prepared by NatureServe for the National Park Service Southeast Regional Office February 2010 NatureServe is a non-profit organization providing the scientific basis for effective conservation action. A NatureServe Technical Report Prepared for the National Park Service under Cooperative Agreement H 5028 01 0435. Citation: Milo Pyne, Erin Lunsford Jones, and Rickie White. 2010. Vascular Plant Inventory and Plant Community Classification for Mammoth Cave National Park. Durham, North Carolina: NatureServe. © 2010 NatureServe NatureServe Southern U. S. Regional Office 6114 Fayetteville Road, Suite 109 Durham, NC 27713 919-484-7857 International Headquarters 1101 Wilson Boulevard, 15th Floor Arlington, Virginia 22209 www.natureserve.org National Park Service Southeast Regional Office Atlanta Federal Center 1924 Building 100 Alabama Street, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30303 The view and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government. This report consists of the main report along with a series of appendices with information about the plants and plant communities found at the site. Electronic files have been provided to the National Park Service in addition to hard copies. Current information on all communities described here can be found on NatureServe Explorer at http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/ Cover photo: Mature Interior Low Plateau mesophytic forest above the Green River, Mammoth Cave National Park - Photo by Milo Pyne ii Acknowledgments This report was compiled thanks to a team including staff from the National Park Service and NatureServe. We thank all who helped with any aspect of the preparation, field work, data anlaysis, classification, specimen identification and vouchering, and report writing for this project. In addition to NatureServe staff, several NPS staff helped consult and gather data onsite at Mammoth Cave National Park for this project – Teresa Leibfreid, Joe Meiman, Lillian Scoggins, Michele Weber, Adam Datillo, and others too numerous to name. We thank all of the staff at Mammoth Cave National Park that helped out with permitting, field work, logistics, and housing. In addition, we extend our gratitude to the Cave Research Foundation for allowing us to stay at their facility just outside of the park while doing research here. This report was prepared for Mammoth Cave National Park in cooperation with the Cumberland Piedmont Network, Inventory and Monitoring Division of the Southeast Region, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. We appreciate the work of both Teresa Leibfreid and Bill Moore of the CUPN Network, who provided ongoing logistical help while supporting the project in an encouraging, thoughtful manner. In addition to staff from NPS and NatureServe, we also want to recognize the staff at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU). Assistant Curator Carol Ann McCormick facilitated our work at the herbarium. Curator Alan Weakley looked over our shoulders from time to time to expertly assist in plant identification. Mary Lou Kidd of the herbarium completed some final sewing of the mounted specimens. Rick Olson, of Mammoth Cave NP, and Bill Moore, of the NPS Cumberland-Piedmont Network (CUPN), provided critical review of the final report. Finally, we‟d like to acknowledge the entire NatureServe Ecology South team for their project input: Heather Summer for project management, fieldwork, plant identification, community classification and GIS work including placement of the gridded plots, Carl Nordman for plant ID and early development of the key to communities, and Mary Russo for local description development and responding to database needs. All members of the team contributed a great deal to the final product. We also recognize independent contractor Kim Feeman‟s useful assistance at the park during the field seasons spent there. iii iv Vascular Plant Inventory and Plant Community Classification for Mammoth Cave National Park Table of Contents Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................. ix List of Appendices ...................................................................................................................................... xi Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 2 Study Area ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Physiography and Geology of the Study Site .......................................................................................... 4 Previous Vegetation Studies .................................................................................................................... 5 Methods ................................................................................................................................................... 7 Permanent plot establishment.............................................................................................................. 7 Vegetation classification ..................................................................................................................... 9 Vascular plant inventory ..................................................................................................................... 9 Results ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 Vegetation community analysis ........................................................................................................ 11 Discussion/Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 21 Species Inventory .............................................................................................................................. 21 Vegetation community analysis ........................................................................................................ 22 Ecological Community Summary and Management Considerations ................................................ 23 Literature Cited/References ................................................................................................................... 25 Tables and Figures ................................................................................................................................. 29 Figure 1a. Map of western section of Mammoth Cave National Park with plot locations. .............. 29 Figure 1b. Map of eastern section of Mammoth Cave National Park with plot locations. ............... 30 Figure 1c. Map of southern section of Mammoth Cave National Park with plot locations. ............. 31 Figure 2. Species area curves for Mammoth Cave National Park. .................................................... 32 Appendix I. FIELD KEY ........................................................................................................................ 96 Appendix II. USNVC Classification of Plant Associations at Mammoth Cave National Park ....... 112 Appendix III. Plot sheet used for permanent plots ............................................................................. 310 Appendix IV. Photos of selected plots of Mammoth Cave National Park ........................................ 316 v vi List of Figures Figure 1a. Map of western section of Mammoth Cave National Park with plot locations. ................ 29 Figure 1b. Map of eastern section of Mammoth Cave National Park with plot locations. ................ 30 Figure 1c. Map of southern section of Mammoth Cave National Park with plot locations. .............. 31 Figure 2. Species area curves for Mammoth Cave National Park a) from only the gridded plots and b) from all full plots. ................................................................................................................................. 32 vii viii List of Tables Table 1. Plots established at Mammoth Cave National Park ................................................................ 33 Table 2. List of all plants historically documented at Mammoth Cave National Park ...................... 37 Table 3. List of all vouchers collected by NatureServe at Mammoth Cave National Park ................ 68 Table 4. Tables of vascular plant diversity measures and species total