COEFFICIENT OF CONSERVATISM RANKINGS FOR THE FLORA OF MONTANA : PART I Prepared for: Montana Department of Environmental Quality Prepared by: Andrea Pipp Montana Natural Heritage Program A program of the Montana State Library's Natural Resource Information System that is operated by the University of Montana. August 21, 2015 COEFFICIENT OF CONSERVATISM RANKINGS FOR THE FLORA OF MONTANA: PART I Prepared for: MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY 1520 East 6th Ave; Helena MT 59620 Agreement #215042 Prepared by: ANDREA PIPP © 2015 Montana Natural Heritage Program P.O. Box 201800 ● 1515 East Sixth Ave ● Helena, MT 59620-1800 This document should be cited as follows: Pipp, Andrea. 2015. Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Montana: Part I. Report to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Helena, Montana. Prepared by the Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana. 73 pp. Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Montana: Part I TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................................i 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 2.0 METHODS ................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Expert Panel .......................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Coefficient of Conservatism Values .................................................................... 2 3.0 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 4 4.0 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 5 TABLES Table 1 Botanical and ecological experts serving on the 2004 and 2015 panels. Table 2 The scoring criteria used by the 2004/2005 panel for assigning C-values to species. Table 3 Summary of coefficient of conservatism scoring definitions used by the 2015 Montana panel and adopted from Zomlefer et al. 2013. Table 4 The 2013 checkist of Montana vascular plants with the revised 2015 origins and C-values. FIGURE Figure 1 The Dichotomous Key for Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings, taken from Zomlefer, W., L. Chafin, J. Carter, and D. Giannasi. 2013. Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Georgia: Wetland Indicator Species. Southeastern Naturalist, 12(4): 790-808. Eagle Hill Institute. COVER PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS (left to right) Cynoglossum officinale, C-value 0: Photographed by Sue Crispin. Prunella vulgaris, C-value 2: Photographed by Drake Barton. Carex amplifolia, C-value 5: Photographed by Peter Lesica. Salix glauca, C-value 7: Photographed by Sue Crispin. Eriophorum callitrix, C-value 10: Photographed by Sabine Mellman-Brown. Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Montana: Part I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Species and land conservation requires the ability to assess natural areas. The Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI) is a tool that uses plants to make standardized comparisons among open land areas, to set conservation priorities, to monitor project areas, and to restore habitats. The basic component of the FQAI is the assignment of a coefficient of conservatism (C-) value to individual plant species. For a given geography, C-values reflect the plant’s tolerance to natural and/or human disturbance and its affinity to a specific, unimpaired habitat. In 2004-2005 and 2015, the Montana Natural Heritage Program assembled panels of botanical and ecological experts with field-based knowledge of Montana’s flora to assign C-values to primarily wetland species. The 2005 scoring criteria were modified by the 2015 panel, which adopted the published methodology used in Georgia (Zomlefer et al. 2013). This modification led to the re- assessment of the 2005 C-values for most exotic species and some native species. The origin of many species was also researched and updated. In total, the panels assigned C-values for 1,412 plant species or varieties in Montana. When assigning C-values in 2015, the panel found that incorporating Georgia’s method (Zomlefer et al. 2013) created greater scoring consistency among members, a better understanding of the scoring definitions, and a refinement that better distinguished neighboring values. i Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Montana: Part I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was funded by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. We would like to thank Lynda Saul for her enthusiasm to develop Coefficients of Conservatism values for plants in Montana. Thank you to the Ecologists and Botanists who passionately share their knowledge of and experiences with our vascular plants in Montana: Stephen Cooper, Peter Husby, Marc Jones, Peter Lesica, Tara Luna, Mary Manning, Scott Mincemoyer, Karen Newlon, John Pierce, Ken Scow, and Steve Shelly. We also appreciate the thorough edits by Karen Newlon. Any errors or omissions in the report are entirely the responsibility of the author. ii Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Montana: Part I 1.0 INTRODUCTION Conservation of our species and landscapes is accomplished through land preservation, habitat restoration, and development of effective management techniques. Species and land conservation requires the ability to assess natural areas. The Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI) is a tool that uses plants to make standardized comparisons among open land areas, to set conservation priorities, to monitor project areas, and to restore habitats (Wilhelm and Masters 1995). A key component of using FQAI is to assign a Coefficient of Conservatism (C-) value to an individual plant species that is specific to a defined geography. This report outlines the practical uses of FQAI, defines the process used by the Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTNHP) to assign C-values to plants in Montana, and provides the C-values data. It is commonly accepted that plants and animals occupy habitats to which they are adapted (Wilhelm and Masters 1995). European settlement in North America has resulted in large and rapid changes to our native biological systems and processes. These changes include: a) the loss of conservative plants, those species that co-occur (to create diversity) and are suited to long- term inhabitancy, and b) the increase of exotic species that perpetuate with catastrophic disturbance or cultural activities. As a result, landscapes in Montana are a mosaic of intact systems and fragmented lands in varying states of degradation. Plants exhibit varying degrees of tolerance to disturbance and also display varying degrees of affinity (or fidelity) to a specific habitat integrity (the state of being unimpaired habitat) (Wilhelm and Masters 1995). For a given geography, the C-value reflects the plant species’ tolerance to natural and/or human disturbance and its fidelity to a habitat, and is scaled from 0 to 10. Plants assigned a value of 0 are habitat generalists that respond positively to disturbance while plants assigned a value of 10 occur in very specialized habitats and are intolerant of disturbance. The assigned C-value is not a reflection of the plant’s density, apparent dominance, or frequency within the defined geographical area (Wilhelm and Masters 1995). Collectively, C-values are incorporated into community-based site assessment methods, such as FQAI (Zomlefer et al. 2013). The FQAI method is used by government agencies and private consulting firms to: 1) identify natural areas, 2) facilitate comparisons among different sites (regardless of the habitat type), 3) conduct long- term monitoring of the quality of remnant lands, and 4) guide restoration efforts (Zomlefer et al. 2013; Wilhelm and Masters 1995). Most commonly, government agencies and private consulting firms have used FQAI to monitor wetland conditions in compliance with Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. Organizations are also using FQAI and C-values in long-term ecological inventories, to develop baseline conditions, and to set habitat or vegetation targets in restoration projects. To facilitate the use of FQAI and C-value indices in Montana, it is necessary to develop C-values that reflect the species’ response to environmental conditions in Montana. In 2004-2005 and 2015, the MTNHP assembled a panel of botanical and ecological experts to assign C-values to Montana’s wetland plant species. The emphasis on ranking wetland plants came from the primary objective of the Clean Water Act which is to “maintain and restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters”, including wetlands (Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Public Law 92-500). To date, 1,412 plant species or varieties have been assigned a C-value for Montana. Montana Natural Heritage Program 1 Coefficient of Conservatism Rankings for the Flora of Montana: Part I 2.0 METHODS 2.1 Expert Panel The standard methodology for assigning C-values uses an expert panel of botanists and ecologists familiar with the flora in question (Jones 2005; Rocchio 2007; and Zomlefer et al. 2013). In 2004-2005 (hereafter referred to as 2005) and 2015, the MTNHP assembled panels of botanical and ecological experts with field-based knowledge of Montana’s flora (Table 1). The emphasis in 2005