PRBO POINT COUNT VEGGIE (RELEVÉ) PROTOCOL
last update: July 9, 2002 - Grant
Ballard
History & Objectives
How to use these instructions
When to do Veggies
General Information
Layer Descriptions
Species List
Glossary of terms
Revision History
History and Objectives:
This method is based on the "Estimation of Stand Characteristics"
method described on page 37 of the "Handbook of Field Methods for
Monitoring Landbirds" by C.J. Ralph, Geoff Geupel, Peter Pyle, Thomas
Martin, and Dave DeSante (USDA Forest Service General Technical Report
PSW-GTR-144).
We have added some additional data for collection, but are not aware
of any data being left out. In some cases we have simplified the method
by removing design choices, which we feel should be made collectively
by project leaders and program staff.
The objectives of the method are:
To classify each point into broad habitat types and to gather vegetation
and limited landscape data that can be related to bird numbers.
To determine how habitat changes in response to disturbance (flood,
fire, grazing), and to provide data on how these changes relate
to bird numbers.
To gather these data in a consistent, efficient, and useful way.
These veggies are designed to take approximately 15 minutes (assuming
knowledge of most tree and shrub species and the common herb species).
How to use these instructions
This protocol should be reviewed by all project leaders at the beginning
of each season, and discussed as necessary. All field biologists conducting
veggies should go over this protocol with their project leader prior
to attempting actual veggies. Several (at least 3) veggies should
be conducted as a group by all vegetation data collectors on a project,
particularly for calibration of cover estimation.
Project leaders should discuss these protocol with each other and
with all personnel conducting veggies prior to data collection.
It is very important that there be consistency in these methods.
In some cases slight modifications to the method are warranted,
but these should be thoroughly discussed with all involved, and
documented prior to implementation. Please also refer to the Handbook
of Field Methods for Monitoring Landbirds for discussion and more
information.
An example form can be found at: www.prbo.org/tools/pc/pcveg.doc
When to do Veggies:
Veggies should be done during the breeding season of the first year
of any point count project, and as often as possible after that (usually
not more than once per season). In stable habitat types it may only
be necessary to do veggies every few years, while in flood or burn
habitats it is generally necessary to do them each season. If new
sites are added to a project, they should be vegged the first year,
and then on the same schedule as the other stations.
Generally, fill out one form for every point. The only exception
may be if the plot covers more than one habitat type (please discuss
with project leader before doing more than one per point).
1st Section:
General Information
State: 2-letter code
Region: County name
Quad: USGS Quad name that this
point is on.
Project: The project name, such as "Lower Sac" or "Cosumnes"
or "Eastern Sierra Riparian"
Station: Unique 4 letter transect code.
Point #: Number of the point count site (usually 1 to 20
or so).
Habitat1: The dominant (i.e., most abundant) habitat type
and Sawyer/Keeler-Wolf
series (click for link to online key).
Hab1%: Percent of the plot that is Habitat1.
Habitat2: Secondary habitat type and Sawyer/Keeler-Wolf
series (click for link to online key). Ordinarily, point counts
should be established in only one habitat type. However, this is
often difficult or impossible (eg., riparian strips).
Hab2%: Percent of the plot that is Habitat2. Habitat percentages
added together should not exceed 100%.
Date: Date of the veggie.
Aspect: The direction of slope given in degrees (can be
thought of as the direction a drop of water or a marble would roll
if it was placed in the plot). Averaged over entire 50 meter plot.
Be sure to indicate magnetic or true.
Slope: The slope of the plot as a percentage, where vertical
would be 100% and completely flat is 0%. Averaged over entire 50
meter plot.
Water: The presence of water, both running and standing.
Answer Y (yes) or N (no) to each.
GPS: Give coordinates if you have the means to take them.
Preferably give an average. Note the type of receiver used (Garmin
GPSII+, Trimble Pathfinder, etc. - for purposes of accuracy estimate),
the grid (decimal degrees or UTM’s please), and the datum (WGS 84
is preferred). If available, record the Figure of Merit (FOM). Data
should be stored on the receiver as well as written on the data
sheet. GPS units should be regularly downloaded in case of internal
battery failure and resulting loss of data.
Plot Radius: Usually 50 meters. Please do not vary without
discussing with project leader.
Snagsg10: record the number of snags with dbh >10
cm on the plot.
Snagsl10: record the number of snags with dbh < 10 cm
on the plot.
Logs: record the number of logs (diameter > 10cm) on the
plot.
Landscape variables - these can vary by project. We list
below 3 variables collected on the PIFRIP project. Generally, landscape
variables at scales above 100 m will be garnered from aerial or
satellite photography and vegetation maps, and other methods, but
these may not be accurate at the sub-100m level, or might be temporally
variable and therefore best collected in the field.
Width of riparian: estimate the width of the riparian zone,
including river or streams (if >100m, record "100"). If river is
>50m wide, do not include river or vegetation on opposite bank.
Length of riparian: estimate the length of the riparian
zone, including river or streams (if >100m, record "100").
Channel width: estimate width of stream or river.
Adjacent land use and habitat: dominant management practice
of adjacent lands within 100 meters of the point and habitat (Sawyer/Keeler-Wolf
series (click for link to online key). if applicable..
2nd Section: Layer
descriptions:
Total cover: Estimate the cover
that each of the following vegetative layers provides over the 50
meter plot area. The layers are strictly defined by height
categories, and should be thought of as:
1 or "tree" layer - the layer dominated by trees. This layer
may contain vegetation that is not strictly a tree, such as vines
hanging from trees, so long as its within the height range (5 meters
to highest tree height). If there are two sublayers, add "T2" to
layers box and record % cover, low and high species information.
2 or "shrub" layer - the layer dominated by shrubs. This layer
may contain non-woody plants within the height range (.5 meters
to less than 5 meters). If there are two sublayers, add "S2" to
layers box and record % cover, low and high species information.
3 or "herb" layer - the layer dominated by herbs (0 to less than
.5 meters). This layer may contain small shrubs and other woody
plants less than .5 meters high.
4 or "totalwoody" layer - absolute cover of all woody vegetation
combined across height categories.
Also include additional ground cover layers that are relevant to the
particular study plot or region, such as water (differentiate running
versus standing, salt versus fresh, as needed), road, trail, litter,
or moss cover. Project leaders should ensure these site-specific layers
are included for all points within a project.
The tree and the shrub layers can each be divided into 2 sublayers,
if appropriate. If two distinct layers within a layer (by height)
can be identified, estimate the cover of each separately. If both
are 20% or more, they qualify as separate sublayers. Otherwise,
lump them. The herb layer should never have more than one sublayer.
If only one layer is present, leave the second layer blank. The
second tree layer should be labeled "T2" and the second shrub layer
should be labeled "S2". T1 and S1 should always be the taller than
T2 and S2, respectively.
Note that the total cover for each vegetation sublayer could
theoretically reach 100%.
If heights other than those specified here are used to define the
different layers, those heights must be recorded and should be consistent
across an entire project. Please do not change the heights without
talking to the project leader.
High: Estimate to the nearest 0.1 meter the average
height of the upper bounds of the vegetation sublayers (tree, shrub,
herb). This is not usually the height of the tallest plant: if a
single tree, which takes up a very small area, is much higher than
the average high layer, this is NOT the height that is recorded.
Another way to think of this is the height above which only 10%
of individuals of the dominant species in a layer reach.
Low: Estimate to the nearest 0.1 meter the average height
of the lower bounds of the tree and shrub sublayers. This should
be the average low living branches for each sublayer, NOT
THE HEIGHT OF LOW TREES AND SHRUBS, so a LoHeight for a tree sublayer
can be less than 5 meters!
Lower and Upper Species: Record the 6-letter
code of the dominant plant species that make up the upper and
lower bounds for the tree and shrub sublayers.
D.b.h.: Estimate the minimum and maximum diameter at breast
height to the nearest 0.1 centimeters, for the tree layer and, if
applicable (if shrubs reach or exceed dbh level) the shrub layer.
Minimum and maximum species: Record the species of tree
or shrub used for minimum and maximum dbh, giving the 6-letter code.
3rd section: Species
list:
Sublayer: Record the sublayers as "T1" for tree sublayer 1,
"T2" for tree sublayer 2 (if present), "S1" for shrub sublayer 1,
"S2" for shrub sublayer 2 (if present), and "H1" for the herb sublayer.
Species: Record in the appropriate place the 6-letter code
for most species that occur in each sublayer. A species that occurs
in multiple sublayers should be recorded separately for each. Do
your best to list most species in each layer without spending more
than about 15 minutes at a site (once the dominant vegetation of
an area has been learned). For the totalwoody layer, we recommend
listing the top 5 most common woody species. Be sure to include
any species of interest to the study, such as invasive exotics.
Cover: Record the relative cover of that sublayer made up
by that species. The sum of all the species' covers within a sublayer
should equal approximately 100%.
Note on species codes: a program
can be run to convert 4 letter common names to six letter latin
names, provided all 4 letter common names are unique and the species
to which they refer are known. Please use a standardized list for
entire project. Please cross-reference with "plantlist.dbf," (available
at http://plants.usda.gov/plants/)
which has the full latin name and standardized abbreviation for
every species in the country. See
http://www.calflora.org/ for photos and other information about
California plants, including associated Sawyer and Keeler-Wolf series.
Glossary of terms
cover - the percent of ground obscured
from above. For layer descriptions, this is the absolute cover (pretending
that the other layers do not exist). For species lists cover
is relative to the other species in the layer.
layer - a height category for
describing habitat. A tree or shrub layer can be comprised
of 2 "sublayers.""
quad - a topographical map made
by the United States Geological Survey covering 7.5 minutes of longitude
at a 1:24,000 scale. Each one has a unique name.
sublayer - a layer that falls
within a larger layer.
Revision History
3/17/01 - (GB) Added links to plant list and SKW series key and Ralph
et al. 1993.
3/30/01 - (GB) Added "totalwoody" cover to section 2 ("layer
descriptions") to allow analysis of individual species' contribution
to cover across height categories, and ammended the "species" description
within section 3 accordingly.
3/30/01 - (GB) Magnetic or true to aspect.
3/30/01 - (GB) Changed cover definition in glossary to differentiate
between layers and species definitions.
7/09/02 - (GB) Added Calflora link.
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