Kenai National Wildlife Refuge: Dall sheep response to fire: vegetation surveys

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 774 records.

3 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Bowser M, Canterbury C, Chen R, Davis N, Farmer K, Grigsby S, Merrell K, Morton J, Solberg J, Strack S (2024). Kenai National Wildlife Refuge: Dall sheep response to fire: vegetation surveys. Version 1.6. United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.gbif.us/resource?r=kenainwr-dall-sheep-vegetation-surveys&v=1.6

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is United States Fish and Wildlife Service. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 98897462-f677-4878-8a6a-8a5a812b3884.  United States Fish and Wildlife Service publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

External data

The resource data is also available in other formats

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Our study area was set in the Kenai Mountains, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

Taxonomic Coverage

We primarily surveyed vascular plants, but some bryophytes and lichens were noted.

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

No Description available

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

At each sampling site we followed the 100 m2 circular plot and point intercept protocols of Morton et al. (2006) with some additions: We estimated the percentage of each 100 m2 circular plot that had burned and we indicated whether each site had been chosen randomly or because Dall sheep had been observed using the site. We also photographed the plot from the ends of each 10 m transect toward plot center instead of the pair of photographs taken from south of plot center described by Morton et al. (2006).

Method step description:

1. We hiked to pre-determined plot coordinates of both randomly-selected sites and feeding sites. At each plot we set a pin at plot center, then we stretched one tape from 10 m south of plot center to 10 m north of plot center and another tape from 10 m east of plot center to 10 m west of plot center. A 5.64 m radius, 100 m2 circular plot was marked by points at 4.36 m and 15.64 m along the tapes.
2. Using a standard datasheet (Bowser and Canterbury, 2023), we recorded whether a plot was a randomly selected site or a site where Dall sheep use had been recently documented. The percentage of the 100 m2 circular plot that had been burned in the 2019 Swan Lake Fire was estimated by eye. Plot coordinates were documented by GPS averaging.
3. We sampled vegetative cover within the first 2 m above ground using the modified point-intercept sampling technique described by Morton et al. (2006). Using an avalanche probe marked with 10 cm or 1 cm increments as a sampling pin, we proceeded along the right sides of tapes from 0 m to 20 m, skipping plot center at 10 m. We sampled at every 0.5 m interval for a total of 40 sampling points per tape and 80 points per plot. We further split each point into two strata: intercepts at 0 to 1 m above the ground surface and from 1 m to 2 m above the ground surface; potential intercepts above 2 m were ignored. Each plant taxon that touched the pin one or more times was recorded within each stratum at each point. Only one hit per stratum per point per taxon was recorded at each of the 80 sampling points. If no vegetation touched the sampling pin within stratum, then “no plants recorded” was tallied. Consequently, a minimum of 40 tallies were recorded per point and stratum. The number of tallies recorded could exceed this value considerably depending on species richness. We also recorded subrates at each point along the transects. Substrate categories were bare ground (including rocks < 13 mm in diameter or width), rock (> 13 mm in diameter or width), litter (including wood < 25 mm diameter), dead wood (> 25 mm diameter), water, snow/ice, ash/charcoal, and basal cover of live vegetation. Any live vegetation recorded as a substrate (as basal cover) was also recorded by species in the 0 to 1 m stratum. The total number of substrates recorded should always equal 40 per transect (80 per plot). From the ends of each transect we photographed the plot facing plot center.
4. We recorded all vascular plant species within 5.64 m (horizontal distance) of the plot center as described by Morton et al. (2006).
5. Plants that could not be identified with confidence in the field were collected and pressed for later examination. For identifications in the lab we used relevant keys and floras including Hultén (1968), Welsh (1974), Bayer (1993), Douglas et al. (1998), Collet (2002), Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2002), Bayer (2006), Skinner et al. (2012), and Murrell and Poindexter (2016).
6. Data from data sheets were entered by hand into tabular format (Bowser et al., 2024), and these were reformatted to Darwin Core format using a Quarto script (Bowser, 2024b).

Bibliographic Citations

1. Bayer RJ (1993) A taxonomic revision of the genus Antennaria (Asteraceae: Inuleae: Gnaphaliinae) of Alaska and Yukon Territory, northwestern North America, Arctic and Alpine Research, 25(2), pp. 150–159. https://doi.org/10.2307/1551552 https://doi.org/10.2307/1551552
2. Bayer RJ (2006) Antennaria Gaertner, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.) Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume 19. Magnoliophyta: Asteridae (in part): Asteraceae, part 1. New York: Oxford University Press. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=101977 http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=101977
3. Bowser ML (2023) Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 2023 Dall sheep project sampling design. Soldotna, Alaska: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175338 https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175338
4. Bowser ML (2024a) Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Dall sheep project, vegetation data checks. Soldotna, Alaska: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175345 https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175345
5. Bowser ML (2024b) Quarto script for exporting occurrence data from Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Dall sheep project, vegetation surveys 2023. Soldotna, Alaska: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175408 https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175408
6. Bowser ML & Canterbury C (2023) Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 2023 Dall sheep project vegetation survey datasheet. Soldotna, Alaska: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175348 https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175348
7. Bowser ML, Canterbury C, Chen R, Davis N, Farmer K, Grigsby S, Merrell K, Morton J, Solberg J & Strack S (2024) Kenai National Wildlife Refuge: Dall sheep response to fire: Vegetation surveys - 2023 survey data, data sheets. Soldotna, Alaska: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175351 https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/175351
8. Collet DM (2002) Willows of Southcentral Alaska. Soldotna, Alaska: Kenai Watershed Forum.
9. Douglas GW, Straley GB, Meidinger DV & Pojar J (eds.) (1998) Illustrated flora of British Columbia, volume 1: Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons (Aceraceae through Asteraceae). Victoria, B.C.: B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks,; B.C. Ministry of Forests. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/mr/Mr100.pdf https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/mr/Mr100.pdf
10. Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.) (2002) Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume 23. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Cyperaceae. New York: Oxford University Press.
11. Herreman JK (2018) Dall sheep management report and plan, Game Management Units 7 and 15: Report period 1 July 2011–30 June 2016, and plan period 1 July 2016–30 June 2021. Species Management Report and Plan ADF&G/DWC/SMR&P-2018-34. Juneau, Alaska: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/research/wildlife/speciesmanagementreports/pdfs/dallsheep_2011_2021_smr_gmu_7_15.pdf https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/research/wildlife/speciesmanagementreports/pdfs/dallsheep_2011_2021_smr_gmu_7_15.pdf
12. Hultén E (1968) Flora of Alaska and neighboring territories. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
13. Lohuis T, Smith K, Metherell L & Dial R (2018) Dall’s sheep population declines in Alaska’s Chugach Range may be related to climate and weather patterns, in Biennial Symposium of the Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council. Whitefish, Montana: Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council, p. 76. http://media.nwsgc.org/proceedings/NWSGC-2018/Lohuis%20et%20al.%20abstract.pdf http://media.nwsgc.org/proceedings/NWSGC-2018/Lohuis%20et%20al.%20abstract.pdf
14. Morton JM, Berg E, Bowser ML, Eskelin T, Jozwiak L, Laker M, Magness D & O’Brien L (2006) Long Term Ecological Monitoring Program: Interagency agreement, original proposal, and 2004 field protocols. Soldotna, Alaska: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/132198 https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/Reference/Profile/132198
15. Murrell ZE & Poindexter DB (2016) Cornaceae Berchtold & J. Presl, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.) Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume 12. Magnoliophyta: Vitaceae to Garryaceae. New York: Oxford University Press. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10219 http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10219
16. Skinner Q, Wright S, Henszey R, Henszey J & Wyman S (2012) A field guide to Alaska grasses. Cumming, Georgia: Education Resources Publishing.
17. Welsh SL (1974) Anderson’s flora of Alaska. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press.

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