Data from: Recreational trails reduce lichen and bryophyte diversity and the occurrence of rare species

Increasing recreational use of natural areas may pose a threat to
biodiversity, particularly in sensitive high-elevation ecosystems. Lichens
and bryophytes (collectively termed cryptogams here) contribute
substantially to biodiversity in almost all terrestrial ecosystems, but
their response to disturbance from recreation has rarely been studied. We
inventoried lichen and bryophyte communities and analyzed impacts of
disturbance and environmental variables at four study areas in Mount
Rainier National Park, Washington, USA. The study areas ranged from
low-elevation, wet temperate forests to alpine environments and adjacent
subalpine forests. We sampled cryptogam communities using both 1 x 1 meter
quadrats as well as larger, circular, fixed-area plots. For both the
quadrats and the plots, data on species composition and environmental
variables we measured are included in separate files. We also include a
data file of functional traits for cryptogams we encountered. Large,
high-quality cryptogam community datasets are rare, and these data may be
useful for further analyses.