Point Bar Vegetation Survey of Bonanza Creek LTER Research Plots (2007-Present)

Beginning in 2007 ocular vegetation estimates were replaced by the point bar system. The point bar is meant to be a more objective way of carrying out annual vegetation surveys. In particular because you are placing the point bar in the same location every time a site is visited, a better understanding of vegetation change over time is possible. This method replaces the old system of estimating percent cover visually ( Vegetation Plots of the Bonanza Creek LTER Control Plots: Species Percent Cover (1975 - 2009) ), which is often subject to personal bias and small shifts in species composition are often overlooked. Data from both methods were collected during the 2007, 2008, and 2009 field seasons, and regression analysis shows unique and statistically significant relationships between the two methods depending on growth form. At each site, growth forms were evaluated separately, and at each site there is a specific regression model for each growth form. In this way a user can correlate the two methods and data collected before 2007 can be compared to data collected after the new protocol was established.