Data Package: Terrestrial Vegetation Monitoring in National Parks of the Southeast Coast Network, 2019-2023

Vegetation communities serve as the foundation of habitat for many species, function as a carbon sink, produce oxygen, cycle nutrients and energy, improve water quality, and moderate flooding/erosion. Given the widespread anthropogenic influences in Southeast Coast Network parks and the importance of vegetation communities, quantifying trends in species diversity and forest regeneration is vital to understanding ecological processes and identifying stressors and their impacts. Evaluating trends in vegetation and environmental attributes provides measures for assessing the ecological integrity and sustainability of park’s terrestrial vegetation and identifies potential management activities on our park lands. The National Park Service Omnibus Management Act of 1998 and other reinforcing policies and regulations require park managers to establish baseline information and to provide information on the long-term trends in the condition of National Park System resources (Title II, Sec. 204). The data summarized herein is a tool to assist managers in fulfilling this mandate.

植被群落是众多物种栖息地的基础，可作为碳汇（carbon sink）、产生氧气、循环养分与能量、改善水质并缓解洪水与侵蚀。
鉴于东南海岸网络公园（Southeast Coast Network parks）内广泛存在的人为影响，以及植被群落的重要性，量化物种多样性与森林更新的趋势对于理解生态过程、识别胁迫因子（stressors）及其影响至关重要。
评估植被与环境属性的趋势，可为衡量公园陆地植被的生态完整性（ecological integrity）与可持续性提供依据，并确定公园土地上潜在的管理活动。
1998年《国家公园管理局综合管理法案》（National Park Service Omnibus Management Act of 1998）及其他补充政策法规要求公园管理者建立基线信息，并提供国家公园系统资源状况长期趋势的相关信息（第二章第204节）。本文所汇总的数据是协助管理者履行此项法定职责的工具。