Number of plots and tissue samples by distance from the DMTS haul road, 2017.

Standard and autocorrelation plots sampled both vegetation and moss tissue. Autocorrelation plots were established to provide autocorrelation estimation in the posterior predictions model. A tissue sample, and in some cases a field duplicate sample, was collected at each plot with the exception of four plots (distances 10, 300, 1000, and 4000 m) at in which no tissue was available. The six samples closest to the road did not co-occur with lichen plots. All of the 131 samples from 104 plots and 6 additional tissue sample locations in 2017 were used in the current model.