Vegetation Classification Exercise for the Pawnee National Grasslands, USA

Abstract

Aims: Vegetation classifications are useful for a variety of management purposes as well as scientific exploration. Local classifications are common throughout the United States but only recently have been integrated into a national classification system, which is now expected for local classifications. Study Area: The Pawnee National Grasslands (PNG) in northeastern Colorado, USA, has not been classified using plot data, and is thus a gap on the baseline knowledge of the PNG plant communities that hinders impact assessment of various anthropogenic activities. Methods: Here, we use 128 plots to classify the vegetation of the PNG using a two-step process: first, classifying the PNG plots alone to characterize local uniqueness, and then employing a semi-supervised classification with an additional 64 plots from areas to the north and east of the PNG, using standard classification procedures. Results: We document on the PNG the occurrence of two Classes, three Subclasses, four Formations, five Divisions, six Macrogroups, seven Groups and eight Alliances and Associations already described in the USNVC. Conclusions: The PNG is dominated by the Bouteloua gracilis-Buchloe dactyloides Grassland Association, which we further subdivide and describe as three local subassociations. The mixed-grass concepts in the USNVC do not exist in the PNG. Taxonomic reference: Hazlett (1998). Syntaxonomic reference: USNVC (2016). Abbreviations: BLM = Bureau of Land Management; CPER = Central Plains Experimental Range; ESA = Ecological Society of America; EST = Ecological Site Type; GPS UTM = Global Positioning System Universal Transverse Mercator; NEON = National Ecological Observatory Network; PNG = Pawnee National Grasslands; USNVC = United States Vegetation Classification.