Understory vegetation data quality assessment for the Interior West Forest and Inventory Analysis program

Paul L. Patterson; Renee O'Brien

doi:10.2737/RMRS-RP-87

Treesearch

Understory vegetation data quality assessment for the Interior West Forest and Inventory Analysis program

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Paul L. Patterson, Renee O'Brien

Year:

2011

Type:

Research Paper

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-RP-87

Source:

Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-87. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 9 p.

Download (PDF 1.34 MB)

Download (PDF 1.34 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/37558.pdf

Abstract

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IW-FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service collects field data on understory vegetation structure that have broad applications. In IW-FIA one aspect of quality assurance is assessed based on the repeatability of field measurements. The understory vegetation protocol consists of two suites of measurements; (1) the structure by lifeform and (2) the structure for individual species with cover greater than five percent. The measurements of structure by lifeform and species are highly repeatable; however, since species identification is confounded with cover threshold, the repeatability of species identification cannot be evaluated using FIA's tolerance and compliance rate protocol for measuring repeatability. The protocols used to collect the data analyzed in this paper are specific to IW-FIA. A standardized national understory vegetation procedure that is very similar to the IW-FIA procedure described here will be implemented in 2011 for all FIA units.

Keywords

understory, vegetation, species, cover, forest inventory

Citation

Patterson, Paul L.; O'Brien, Renee A. 2011. Understory vegetation data quality assessment for the Interior West Forest and Inventory Analysis program. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-87. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 9 p.