How Rock Climbing Impacts Bryophyte and Lichen
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Rock Climbing or Lichen Climbing? How Rock Climbing Impacts Bryophyte and Lichen Communities Within the Red River Gorge Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jordan Reding Graduate Program in Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University 2019 Thesis Committee Dr. G. Matt Davies, Advisor Dr. Robert Klips Dr. Kaiguang Zhao Dr. Stephen Matthews Copyrighted by Jordan Reding 2019 Abstract Outdoor recreation has consistently been one of America’s greatest pastimes. Recently, the development of rock climbing areas has increased, becoming a $3.8 million industry in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky. This development has been shown to have differing levels of effects on the biota on cliff faces, with difficulty isolating natural effects to anthropogenic ones. The goals of this study are: 1) to determine the best practices of different abundance acquisition methods, determine if they can sense a disturbance gradient, and compare them to in-situ visual estimation, and 2) determine how rock climbing impacts cryptogamic abundance, species richness, and community composition while controlling for environmental factors. Accurately estimating vegetative abundance is a cornerstone of many ecological studies and a variety of methods to collect such data have been developed. In certain situations, for instance determining cryptogam abundance on rock surfaces, study sites can be difficult to access. Determining the best method to use when estimating abundance is an important part of collecting accurate data, gaining data in an efficient way, and limiting exposure to hazardous terrain. Because of this, it is important to understand the different types of methods available and how they compare to one another. Due to the increase in the popularity of rock climbing, understanding the impact of rock climbing is increasingly important, which ii requires abundance, species richness, and community composition data of cryptogamic communities on rock surfaces. Abundance was estimated using four different approaches: 1) visual cover estimation (total life-form and species-specific cover); 2) visual estimation of total cover from quadrat photographs; 3) unsupervised classification of quadrat photographs using the Interface Definition Language program Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI); and 4) chlorophyll florescence using a Hansatech pocket PEA. The climbing use intensity, heat load index, and microtopographic variation were estimated for each quadrat. When comparing cover estimation methods, the ENVI method was the most strongly predictive of field visual estimation (R2 = 0.67), closely followed by visual photographic methods (R2 = 0.60). Chlorophyll florescence was not predictive of field visual methods (R2 = 0.09) but provided important insight to the presence of photosynthetic material not visible to the human eye. In-situ visual abundance, photographic visual abundance, and ENVI methods all detected significant differences in abundance across the climbing disturbance gradient. Community composition was significantly impacted (P < 0.01) by rock-climbing, the vertical resource gradient, climbing use intensity, microtopographic variation and heat load. Climbing impact interacted with the vertical resource gradient and the largest impacts on cryptogam abundance were seen at higher elevations on the routes. To minimize the impact of rock climbing, route establishers should avoid bolting to the top of the cliff face, climbers should avoid “topping out”, and climbers should climb as close the line of bolts (or guidebook depicted center of route) as possible. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr. G. Matt Davies for working closely with me and acting as my academic advisor. Without him, this project would not have been possible. Brooke Ely, for all her gracious help in the field, collecting data and samples while suspended in the air by a rope for hours at a time. I would like to thank Dr. Robert Klips and Megan Osika at the Ohio State Museum of Biological Diversity for helping identify lichen and bryophyte samples. I would also like to thank Dr. Kaiguang Zhou for giving me guidance on proper ENVI techniques and helping me work through the specifics of the program. I would like to thank Dr. Robert Klips, Dr. Kaiguang Zhou and Dr. Steven Matthews for serving on my master’s committee. I would like to thank the Friends of Muir Valley and The Red River Gorge Climbers’ Coalition for allowing me to conduct research on their land. Lastly, I would like to thank the Kentucky Native Plant Society, The Ohio State University’s GradRoots organization, and the OARDC for making this research possible through their generous funding. iv Vita 2012 .......................................Graduated Kenston High School 2013 – 2016 ...........................Rock Climbing Instructor at Outdoor Adventure Center, The Ohio State University 2016 .......................................B.S. Environmental Science with Ecosystem Restoration Specialization, The Ohio State University 2016 .......................................Intern at Colorado Outward Bound School 2017 .......................................Assistant Instructor at North Carolina Outward Bound School Fields of Study Major Field: Environment and Natural Resources v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Vita ...................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x Comparison of Methods to Estimate Cryptogam Abundance on Rock Surfaces within the Red River Gorge, Kentucky. ............................................................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Methods........................................................................................................................... 5 Study Area .................................................................................................................. 5 Site Selection .............................................................................................................. 6 Plot Establishment ...................................................................................................... 7 Visual Cover Estimation ............................................................................................. 9 Photographic Cover Estimation .................................................................................. 9 Unsupervised Image Classification to Assess Cover ................................................ 11 Chlorophyll Florescence Abundance Estimates ....................................................... 14 Method Comparison.................................................................................................. 17 Results ........................................................................................................................... 17 Determining Recording Best Practices ..................................................................... 17 Methods’ Ability to Characterize Stress Gradients .................................................. 23 Comparison of All Methods...................................................................................... 31 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 32 Determining Best Practices ....................................................................................... 32 Methods’ Ability to Characterize Stress Gradients .................................................. 35 Comparison of All Methods...................................................................................... 38 vi Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 40 The Effects of Rock Climbing on Bryophyte and Lichen Community Composition in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky. ............................................................................................. 42 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 42 Methods......................................................................................................................... 46 Study Area ................................................................................................................ 46 Site Selection ............................................................................................................ 47 Plot Establishment .................................................................................................... 48 Field Measurements .................................................................................................. 50 Data Analysis ...........................................................................................................