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Yellowstone Grid Data - 1991

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CLASS IV. DATA STRUCTURAL DESCRIPTORS

A. Data Set File

Identity: YNPgrid91_data.txt

Size: 16200 records, not including header row.

Format and storage mode: ASCII text, tab delimited. No compression scheme was used.

Header information: See variable names in Section B.

Alphanumeric attributes: Uppercase

Special characters/fields: Missing data denoted as “.”

Authentication procedures: Column sums, see table below.

B. Variable information

YEAR: Year sampling took place.  All sampling conducted in July of 1991.

SITE: Name of sampling grid: MLRD=Mallard, MYST=Mystic and HART=Heart

TRANSECT: Letter identifying transect within sampling grid ranging from letters A through J oriented from west to east.

POINT: Number identifying sampling point within each transect.  Each transect contained sampling points numbered 1 through 10 oriented from south to north.

SLOPE: Topographic slope (degrees) at each sampling point.

ASPECT: Topographic aspect of sampling point.  Values can include N, S, E, W, NW, NE, SW, SE or X.  A value of X indicates a virtually flat topography.

BURNSEV: Burn severity classes were defined as follows:

0=unburned, no sign of fire effects;
1=light surface burn. Low-intensity surface fire in which canopy trees retain green needles and generally did not die, although some stems scorched. Soil organic layer still largely intact, though burned in small patches. 
2=severe surface burn. High-intensity surface fire with extensive canopy tree mortality, but needles on canopy trees are not consumed by fire; pre-fire soil organic layer largely consumed, but soil covered by dead leaves fallen from the canopy after the fire.
3=crown fire. Needles of canopy trees completely consumed by fire; soil organic layer almost entirely consumed, and soil is bare with no litter.

SUCC: Prefire successional stage classes (as in Despian 1990) were derived from sampling a chronosequence of stands that originated following fires at various times in the last 400 years. The resulting classes are defined as follows:

LP0 (0-40 yrs) = Recently burned lodgepole pine stands in the grass to seedling/sapling stage before canopy closure; trees usually < 2 m in height.
LP1 (40-150 yrs) = Closed canopy of even-aged, often dense lodgepole pine; young pole stage.
LP2 (150-300 yrs) = Closed canopy dominated by lodgepole pine; overstory still largely intact; understory may contain small conifers, but is generally open and park like.
LP3 (>300 yrs)=Canopy quite irregular, predominantly of old lodgepole pine but containing some Engelman spruce, subalpine fir and whitebark pine in the pole-sized class; understory usually dense.

SF0, SF1, SF2, SF3 are pre-fire successional stages for spruce-fir forest.  Additional categories included SHR=shrub, BOG=bog, and WET=open water.       

FORB, EPAN, LUAR, ARCO, OFORB :  Percent cover of various forb classifications. See table below.

GRASS, CAGE, CARO, CALA, OGRASS : Percent cover of various graminoids classifications. See table below.

SHRUB, VASC, and OSHRUB : Percent cover of various shrub classifications.  See table below.

BARE, MIN, CHARLIT, LITTER, LOG, ROOT, PEBB, COBB, BOULD, MOSS, and WATER: Percent cover of various cover type classifications. See table below.

PINE: Total number of postfire Pinus contorta seedlings per m².

PICO1, PICO2,, PICO3, POTR1, POTR2, POTR3: Number of Pinus contorta (PICO) and Populus tremuloides (POTR) seedling with a given age class per m²

ARCOSPR, ARCOSDL, CAGESPR, CAROSPR, CARXSDL, COPASDL, EPANSPR, EPANSDL, LUARSPR, LUARSDL, VASCSP: Number of sprouts per m²and/or number of seedlings per m²or various species.  See table below.

GADI, HIAL, LETT: Number of Gayophytum diffusum, Hieracium albiflorum, and Lactuca serriola per m²

Publication(s): Turner, M. G., W. H. Romme, and R. H. Gardner.  1999.  Prefire heterogeneity, fire severity and plant reestablishment in subalpine forests of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. International Journal of Wildland Fire 9:21-36.

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