Vegetation

Project Description

Pacific Northwest Resource Monitoring and Assessment (PNW-FMA) data help describe plant biodiversity in the region's forests, characteristics of special habitat types such as old-growth forests and riparian corridors, and status of forest components such as dead wood, tree crowns, soils, and understory vegetation.

Nonnative invasive plant species already are well established in forested lands of Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington, making up a significant proportion of the species and plant cover present. Current trends suggest that their prevalence will increase.

Purpose and Scope

Vegetation diversity and structure indicator    
The Vegetation Diversity and Structure (VEG) Indicator is an extensive inventory of vascular plants in the forests of the United States. The VEG Indicator provides baseline data to assess trends in forest vascular plant species richness, composition, and the relative abundance and spatial distribution of individual plant species. The VEG Indicator is one of several measures collected by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service to assess forest health.

Invasives    
PNW-FIA also monitors invasive plant distribution and abundance and associations with forest conditions and history. Nonnative plants affect the composition and function of natural and managed ecosystems. FIA and FMA researchers are working to provide more comprehensive information on the abundance, distribution, and impact of nonnative invasive species.

A field guide for identification of nonnative invasive plants of Pacific Coast forests. This publication provides a prioritized short list of the nonnative invasive plants having the greatest impact on forested lands in the Pacific coastal states (California, Oregon, and Washington).

Lichens Communities Indicator   
Epiphytic lichens (i.e. growing on woody plants) play many roles in forest ecosystems, serving as nesting, wildlife forage, and contributing to nutrient cycling, for instance. Lichens subsist almost exclusively on atmospheric moisture and nutrients, making them highly responsive to changes in air quality, climate, and forest structure and function. FIA researchers use Lichen Communities Indicator data to address questions about forest biodiversity and health. For more information see https://www.fia.fs.usda.gov/program-features/indicators/lichen/

Forest structure and function    
Forests provide a myriad of ecosystem services, including vital habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal species. Pacific Northwest Forest Inventory and Analysis (PNW-FIA) program data help describe plant biodiversity in Pacific Northwest forests, characteristics of special habitat types such as old-growth forests and riparian corridors, and status of forest components such as dead wood, tree crowns, soils, and understory vegetation. Specific projects include predicting tree distribution, growth, and mortality across large spatial and temporal scales.

National vegetation classification    
Vegetation composition and structure of forested ecosystems are indicators of productivity, wildlife habitat, and ecosystem function. Classifications developed to distinguish and describe local vegetation conditions can provide essential information to managers of these resources. A major challenge in national vegetation classification development in the Western United States is bridging the gap between floristically derived fine-levels (associations) and mid-levels (groups) defined by both physiognomic and floristic characteristics. Data sets that encompass wider regions help to clarify how floristically driven levels relate to each other and higher levels in the classification. Efforts are currently underway to develop keys to classify western forest conditions recorded on FIA plots to the National Vegetation Classification Standards group level. This adoption of national standards and specifications focuses on existing vegetation and ecological associations at the mid-level of the standards, with key inputs from FIA’s understory vegetation and structure data.