Mount St. Helens –

Permanent Plots and Grids

1980 to present

This site is maintained by

Dr. Roger del Moral

University of Washington

Department of Biology

Box 355325

Seattle, WA 98195-5325

e-mail: moral@u.washington.edu

The material found in this web site is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under LTREB Grants No. 0541972,0089704, 9406957, 8906544 and earlier grants.

Files are in Adobe Acrobat (download Acrobat Reader) format for viewing and printing. Excel files can be obtained upon request. Should you wish to use the data from this web site for any reason, please contact Dr. Roger del Moral. Data are available in spreadsheet format. Please acknowledge the use of any data or images from this site.

Related sites: Roger del Moral’s homepage

http://faculty.washington.edu/moral/

This site contains descriptions of how data have been used and provides links to many papers based on these data.

Mount St. Helens Photo collection:

http://content.lib.washington.edu/mtsthelensweb/index.html

The Nomenclature follows that of Titus, J. H., S. Moore, M. Arnot, & P. J. Titus. 1998. Inventory of the vascular flora of the blast zone, Mount St. Helens, Washington. Madroño 45:146-161. Current names, common names and synonymy are provided in this link.

The Bibliography lists papers produced by R. del Moral and his associates, 1981 to the present. Many provide links to the paper.

Permanent Plots

Plots are permanently marked in the field as follows: there is a center stake and stakes at each of four radii 8 m from the central stake.

Six quadrats are aligned precisely along each radius at 1 m intervals. From 1980 to 1986, 1/10^th-m² rectangles were used. From 1986 on, 1/4-m² quadrats have been used. In addition, species found within the plot, but not sampled by quadrat, were listed and given a cover of 0.1%. The mean cover and frequency of each species was determined.For plots established in 2006, the four radii were each sampled with 3 1-m^{2< quadrats at two m intervals.}

For each plot in each year, the following plot summary data are provided:

Total number of species (richness)

Total plot cover percent (sum of all species)

H prime (Hp) based on the natural log of cover proportions (Shannon function)

Evenness (equitability) based on cover = Hp / ln (richness)

Mean Frequency of the species.

A zero indicates that a species was not encountered in a given year.

Data from these plots have been used in several papers, including: See:

del Moral, R. 1983. Initial recovery of subalpine vegetation on Mount St. Helens. American Midland Naturalist 109: 72-80. http://faculty.washington.edu/moral/publications/AMN_RDM_83.pdf

del Moral R., D. M. Wood & J. H. Titus. 2005. Proximity, microsites, & biotic interactions during early primary succession. In: V. H. Dale, F. Swanson & C. Crisafulli (eds.) Mount St. Helens 20 years after recovery. Springer-Verlag, New York. http://faculty.washington.edu/moral/publications/delMoralEtAl2005.pdf

del Moral, R. 2007. Vegetation dynamics in space and time: an example from Mount St. Helens. Journal of Vegetation Science 109: 72-80. 18: 479-488. http://faculty.washington.edu/moral/publications/2007 JVS RDM.pdf

Data Summary for Permanent Plots

Old Plots: — Plots established between 1980 and 1995

Old Permanent Plot Summary: TEPHRA SPECIES COMPOSITION 1980-2008: — Plots on southwest side of mountain, near Butte Camp.

TEPHRA VEGETATION STRUCTURE 1980-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON MUDFLOWS 1982-2008: — Plots on two lahars on southwest side of mountain, near Butte Camp.

LAHAR VEGETATION STRUCTURE 1982-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON HEAVILY SCOURED SITES 1980-2008: — Plots slopes southwest side of mountain, above Butte Camp.

SCOUR VEGETATION STRUCTURE 1980-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON SCOURED SITES 1980-2008: — Plots on exposed ridge above Pine Creek.

SCOUR VEGETATION STRUCTURE 1980-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON BLASTED, SCOURED, BURIED SITES 1995-2008: — Plots on barren plain east of the crater.

VEGETATION STRUCTURE ON BLASTED, SCOURED, BURIED SITES 1995-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON BLASTED, BURIED SITES 1989-2008: — Plots on barren plain north of the crater.

VEGETATION STRUCTURE ON BLASTED, BURIED SITES 1989-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON BLASTED RIDGE 1984-2008: — Plots on devastated ridge on NW flank of the crater.

VEGETATION STRUCTURE ON BLASTED RIDGE 1984-2008: — Containing richness, cover and diversity per plot in each year.

New Plots: — Plots established in 2006

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON MUDDY RIVER LAHAR 2006-2008: — Plots on Lahar east of crater

SPECIES COMPOSITION ON 20 PERMANENT PLOTS ON PUMICE PLAINS: — Plots 1-10 in drainage; 11-20 on ridge.

Vegetation structure on plots established in 2006: — Plots 1-10 in drainage; 11-20 on ridge.

All Grids

Grids consist of contiguous 10 m by 10 m plots. Cover was estimated by a logaritmic index. The index scores can be converted for each species to an estimate of percent cover. Summary data include the index score of each species in each plot in each year; they have been summarized in .pdf files of the EXCEL data base. For each plot, the richness, index sum, diversity and cover percent are calculated.

Two new grids were established in 2006. Because cover has increased substantially, these grids were sampled by determining the percent cover in 1/4 of each plot, and listing all species in the 10 by 10 m plot.:

See section on permanent plots for calculation methods.

Data Summary for Grids

Abraham Plains. 400 plots on the Plains of Abraham, established in 1987.

Impact type: blast, mudflow (lahar), and pumice deposits.

Plains of Abraham Year, Species, Plot. 400 plots on the Plain of Abraham, established in 1988: each species in each year listed. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Plains of Abraham Plot, Year, Richness, Index, H prime, Cover Percent. 400 plots on Abraham Plain; established in 1988. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Lahar 1. 175 plots at Butte Camp, established in 1987.

Lahar 1 Grid. 175 plots at Butte Camp, established in 1987. From 2008, only 61 plots sampled. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Lahar 1, Year, Richness, Index, H prime, Cover Percent. 175 plots; established in 1987. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Lahar 2. 317 plots at Butte Camp, established in 1987.

Impact type: mudflow (lahar), with tephra overlay.

Lahar 2 SPECIES GRID. 317 plots at Butte Camp, established in 1987. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Lahar 2 GRID STRUCTURE: Year, Richness, Index, H prime, Cover Percent. 317 plots; established in 1987. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

See: del Moral, R. 1998. Early succession on lahars spawned by Mount St. Helens. American Journal of Botany 85: 820-828.

del Moral, R. & E. E. Ellis. 2004. Gradients in heterogeneity & structure on lahars, Mount St. Helens, Washington, USA. Plant Ecology 175: 273–286.

Pumice Plain. 181 plots on the Pumice Plain, established in 1989.

Impact type: Blast and pyroclastic pumice flows, then coarse pumice deposits.

Pumice Plain Grid. 181 plots on the Pumice Plain, established in 1989.

Pumice Plain Grid, Year, Richness, Index, H prime, Cover Percent. 181 plots; established in 1989. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

See: del Moral, R. 1999. Plant succession on pumice at Mount St. Helens, Washington. American Midland Naturalist 141 (1): 101-114.

For a description of methods see:

Wood, D. M. & R del Moral. 1988. Colonizing plants on the Pumice Plains, Mount St. Helens, Washington. American Journal of Botany 75: 1228-1237.

Muddy River Lahar New Grid. 50 plots on the Muddy River Lahar, established in 2006.

Muddy River Lahar New Grid, Year, Richness, H prime, Cover Percent. 50 plots; established in 2006 Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Pumice Plain New Grid. 50 plots on the Pumice Plain, established in 2006.

Pumice Plain New Grid, Year, Richness, H prime, Cover Percent. 50 plots; established in 2006. Excel File and metadata available upon request.

Summary of Locations of Permanent Plots and Grids

Location of permanent plots and grids sampled on Mount St. Helens.

Mount St. Helens Bibliography–

References to papers concerning Mount St. Helens. Follow links to papers.

(see http://faculty.washington.edu/moral/publications.html for links to papers)

Nomenclature and Synonymy

Names used in permanent plot data sheets follow the latest available revision. Current nomenclature can be found in Hickman (1993; The Jepson Manual of higher plants of California). The ultimate current authority is Kartesz, J. T. 1994. Synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. Timber Press, Portland.

Recent updates may be found at:

http://www.itis.usda.gov/advanced_search.html and

http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/bonap/checklist_intro.html

Click here for a summary, with common names and synonymy.

Species sampled on Mount St. Helens: — Nomenclature current in Octobr 2008.