Plant abundance data from the 2016 Chimney Tops 2 Fire in Gatlinburg, TN

We surveyed understory plant communities during the second growing season (2018) after the 2016 fire at sites in WUI near Gatlinburg (hereafter “exurban”) and in GSMNP (hereafter "natural"). We chose sites based on dominant forest vegetation type (available for GSMNP) and elevation to minimize the potential confounding effects of these variables. We used stratified random sampling in ESRI ArcMap to select 18 sites, nine in natural locations and nine in exurban locations; within the location type we randomly selected sites to represent fire severity categories, three no burn, three low/medium burn, and three high burn. In the field, we randomly selected two 1x1 m permanent plots to survey and identify each individual plant in the understory to at least genus level, and to count the number of individuals for each taxon. We generated taxa lists and count of individuals per taxa by aggregating plot level records by month. Individuals that could not be identified to at least genus level due to immature characteristics or herbivore damage were assigned observational taxonomic unit numbers (OTUs).