Report Number: 24578
Reporting
Year: 2002
Permit Number: CRLA-2002-SCI-0005
Date Received: Mar 27, 2003
Principal Investigator:
Ms Elizabeth Horn, 12235 Marina Loop, West
Yellowstone, MT
Additional investigator(s):
Bill Hoplins, Dr.
Fred Hall, Kirk M. Horn
Park-assigned Study Id. #:
CRLA-00005
Permit Expiration
Date:
Aug 30, 2002
Permit Start Date:
Aug 20, 2002
Study Starting
Date:
Aug 20, 2002
Study Ending Date:
Aug 30, 2002
Study
Status:
Continuing
Activity Type:
Inventory
Subject/Discipline:
Ecology (Aquatic, Marine, Terrestrial)
Objectives:
Research on the Pumice Desert was initiated
in 1965 to determine the factors impeding
plant succession.
Findings and Status: By
comparing the composition of the plots from
1965 through 2002 it is clear that
succession is indeed proceeding. While the
herbaceous vegetation has not shown much
change, the 100-acre tree plot has shown a
substantial increase in lodgepole pine
numbers. The tabulations were submitted in
2000. This summer all permanent plot markers
were given GPS coordinates (these are being
sent directly to the Park). On-going
investigation into the cause of the multiple
stemmed trees that dominate the Pumice
Desert is showing that while seedlings
appear normal, with a single stem, the
apical meristem is injured while the tree is
young. The result is a tree with multiple
trunks. This form dominates the Pumice
Desert while trees in the surrounding
lodgepole pine forest are normal,
single-stemmed, trees.
All plots were re-photographed during
August, 2002.
For
this study, were one or more specimens collected and
removed from the park but not destroyed during
analyses?
No
Funding provided
this reporting year by NPS: 0
Funding provided
this reporting year by other sources:
0
Full name of
college or university: n/a
Annual funding
provided by NPS to university or college this
reporting year: 0
