VEGETATION ASSOCIATED WITH TWO ALIEN PLANT SPECIES IN A FESCUE GRASSLAND IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA

5 Pages·1992·2.5 MB·English

by  Robin W Tyser

Great Basin Natunilist52(2). 1992.pp. 189-193
VEGETATION ASSOCIATED WITH TWO ALIEN PLANT SPECIES IN A FESCUE
GRASSLAND IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA
R()l)inW.Tyser
Ki'i/icord.s:aliniflora. CJacicrF<nk. FesiwcAgrasslands.
The presence of alien flora in natunil area 1974, Anderson—et al. 1982, Brotherson and
grasslands ofthe Great Basin and surrounding Rushforth 1983) hasnotyetbeenconsidered,
areasisofconsiderableconcern,giventhewide- nor has the impact ofC. maculosa been com-
spread success of alien flora and associated pared to that ofother alien species. P. pratense
declineofnati\especiesinthisregion(Younget iswidelvdistributedthroughut theparksgrass-
al. 1972, Mack 1986, 1989). Suiveys ofindige- lands. Unlike C. maculosa, this species appears
nous bunchgrass communities in northern to have been intentionally seededin grasslands
Roclcs Mountain national parks have detected by outfitters before the 1940s and along road-
the occurrence of several alien plant species sides by park personnel before the 198()s (D.
(Koterba and Ilabeck 1971, Stringer 1973, Lange and Potter, personal comnumication).
J.
Weaver and Woods 1985, 1986, Tvser and
Worley 1992). In addition, alien species have Study Site and Methods
commonK'been usedto revegetate human-dis-
turbedsitessuch as roadsidesandhousingareas The ca 10-hastud\-area, located adjacentto
in national parks. Livestock-related introduc- Going-to-the-Sun Highway in the St. Mary
tion of Eurasian pasture grasses byprivate out- drainage ofGlacier National Park, Montana, is
titters is also known to have occurred (Glacier fairlytopographicallyhomogeneous,i.e.,clearK'
National ParkRecords 1939). Ho\ve\er, in spite defined drainage channels are absent, and
ofthese observations and practices, the effects slope, exposure, and substrate texture are rela-
ofalien vegetation in natural areagrasslands of tively uniform. The study area includes a large
this region remain poorlystudied. (ca5ha),irregularlyshapedstanddominatedbv
Thisstudycomparestheindigenous\ascular PJileum pratense and a small (ca 0.1 ha) stand
flora and crvptoganiic ground cover associated adjacent to the roadside ditch dominated b\
with two cdien species, Centoiirea ituicidosa Centaurea maculosa. The Centaurea stand
Lam. (spottedknapweed) andPhleiimpratense extends >20 m away from the ditch and is not
L. (common timothv), that ha\'e in\'aded a part of the road-cut corridor. The remaining
fescuegrasslandinGlacierNationalPark, Mon- portion of the studv site is composedof a stand
tana. C. nmcitlosa, now a noxious rangeland ofnatixeFestuca grassesandassociated\egeta-
imader throughout the Pacific Northwest tionin which inxasion byalien specieshas been
(Watson and Renney 1974, Lacey 1989), was minimal. Though no homesteadingis known to
first detected in the park in the mid-1960s (R. ha\eoccurredinthe.studvareabeforeestablish-
Wassem, personal communication). Earlier ment of the park in 1910, this area was likel\
obserxations have shown that this species is used as summer pasture for concession trail
expandingintograsslands adjacent to roadsides horses from approximately 1915 to 1940 (B.
intheparkandreducingspeciesrichness(Tyser Fladmark,personalcommunication).Thestudy
and Key 1988). The impact ofC—. nuiculoso on area has not been used for stock grazing since
the cr\ptogamic ground crust of potential thattime. Othenvise, thereis noindication that
importancein soil stabilization, moisture reten- anyoftheareassampledinthethreestandshave
tion,andnitrogen fixation (Rvchertand Skujins been subjected to anthropogenic disturbance
DepartmentofBiolog\andMicTol)iolog\,I'niversitvofWisconsin-LaOosse,LaCrosse.Wisconsin546()L
189
190 GreatBasin Naturalist [Volume52
since the park was established. In addition, no Carex spp., Festuca idahoensis, F. scabrella,
fires have been recorded in or near the study Gaillardiaaristata, andLupinussericeus (Table
areasince 1910.Acnptoganigroundlayercom- 1). Speciescompositionofthisstandwassimilar
posed of small lichens and mosses covering to prairie communities described elsewhere in
undisturbed soil surfaces is commonlypresent. the Pacific Northwest, e.g., the Festuca
Qualitativeobservationsuggeststhatmossesare scabrella/F. idahoensis association of western
thedominantelementinthislayer. Meanannual Montana (Mueggler and Stewart 1980), the
precipitation in the study area is ca 65 cm Festuca/Danthonia prairie ofAlberta (Stringer
(Finklin 1986). 1973), and the Washington Palouse prairie
Ineachstand,vegetationwassampledusing (Daubenmire1970). Estimatedsurfacecoverof
20 X 50-cm quadrat frames alongtwotransects the cryjDtogam layer in this standwas relatively
placed in representative areas. Within each high, characteristicofwestern bunchgrass prai-
quadrat, presence of all vascular species was ries (Daubenmire 1970, Mack and Thompson
determined, and the canopy coverofeach vas- 1982).Threealienspeciesweresampledwithin
cularspecies andthe surface coverofthe cry|3- the Festuca stand, though total cover ofthese
togamic ground crust were estimated to the specieswas <1.0%.
nearest percentage. A stratified random sam- Significant among-stand variation occurred
pling procedure was used in which quadrats for all community measures (Table 2). Each of
were randomlyplaced along transect segments these measures was lowest in the Centaurea
offixed length. For the Centaurea stand, tran- stand. Canopycoverofnative forbs andcrypto-
sects were 20 m long, and one quadrat was gamgroundcoverinthisstandwereparticularly
randomlyplacedwithineach2-msegment(N = low, only ca 18% and 4%, respectively, of the
20 quadrats). For the Plilcmn and Festuca corresponding Festuca stand measures. Thus,
stands, transects were 100 m long, and one effects ofthe Centaurea macidosa invasion on
quadrat was randomly placed within each 5-m the native flora in the study site appear to be
segment (N = 40 quadrats per stand). relatively severe. The impact ofthis species is
Five vegetation measures were calculated even more impressive considering its relatively
foreachindividualquadrat: (1) vascularspecies recententryinto thepark.
coverdiversityusingtheShannon-Wienerindex All but one of the Phleum stand measures
(H' = -SPilogp,),(2)vascularspeciesrichness, were significantly lower than those of the
(3) cumulative canopycoverofnative forb spe- Festucastand(Table2). Canopycoverbynative
cies, (4) cumulativecanopycoverofnativegrass graminoids in thePhleum standwas reducedto
wspaeyciAesN,OaVnAds(5w)esruerfuasceedctroypastsoegsasmamcoovnegr-.sOtnaen-d aHboowuetve5r0,%forobfciotsvelrevdeilffienretncheesFbeesttwueceanstthaensd.e
differences foreach ofthese quadrat measures. two stands were not statisticiilly significant
With the exception of the diversity measures, (Table 2). Three species {Achillea millefolium,
data did not meet parametric assumptions
Agoseris glauca, and Lupinus sericeus) were
(normal distributions, homogeneousvariances) amongthefourforbspecieswithhighestcanopy
and could not be transformed using standard
cover in each stand, suggesting that the forb
logarithmic, arcsine, orsquare roottransforma-
components ofthese twostandswere relatively
tions. Therefore, data were analyzed by the
similar. TheseobservationssuggestthatPhleum
Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric one-way
ANOVA procedure as described by Conover invasion has affected natixe graminoids more
and Iman (1983). TheTukey multiple compari- than native forbs. It should also be noted that
while mean quadrat richness was lower in the
son procedure, applicable to both parametric
and nonparametric ANOVAs (Conover and Phleum stand(Table2),eightmorespecieswere
slItomawansndt1hc9aot8m1po)af,rHwiiastsocnuhssc.eodcSkpteoacmnidaeskCe^nroponamtiejrnu-icwslitaset(1ua9rm7eo3)nf.gol-- Pr(ehNcl=oeru5dm9edvvss..inNFtehs=itsu5s1ct;aasrneidecthThnaaebsnlseipna1t)t.hteTerhFnuesss,tmuadciyaffosectrcaeunnrdt
if comparisons are derived from samplingunits
larger than the 0.1-m~ quadrats used in this
Results and Discussion
study.
Cryptogam cover in the Phleum stand was
Prominentgraminoidandforbspeciesinthe approximately 50% lower than in the Festuca
Festuca stand included Achillea millefolium. stand (Table 2). Mack and Thompson (1982)
1992] Notes 191
Table 1. Canopvcover(%)estimatesofsix^cieswithintheFcstuca, Phlcitin, andCcnidurcd stands. ° = iJiensjieeies.
Species
)
192 GreatBasin Naturalist [Volume52
Worley 1992) suggests that livestock grazing is soils in Navajo National Monument, Arizona. Gre*^
notaprerequisiteforsuccessfulinvasionof nat- Basin Naturalist43: 73-78.
CONOVER. W. and R. L. Iman 1981. Rank transforma-
uralareasbythisspecies.ThesuccessofbothP. tionsasabJr.,idgebetweenparametricandnonparamet-
pratense and C. maculosa in the studysite sug- ricstatistics. American Statistician.35: 124—129.
goefsatlsietnhaftlomreacihnaangirsom-ssypstreompso,see.dg.f,orratphiedscuoclcoensis- Wiley. i1u9i8d3S.onAs,mInoc.d,eNmewapYporroka.c4h97topps.tatistics. John
Daubenmire. R. 1970. Stepjievegetation ofWashington.
zation ofdisturbedsites, structural and physio- WashingtonAgriculturalExperimentiJStationTechni-
logical adaptations to grazing and trampling, cal Bulletin62. 131pp.
andlowpiilataliilit}'(MackandThompson 1982 FiNKLiN, A. 1. 19—86. A climatic handbook for Glacier
and references therein, Lacey et al. 1986, NationiilPark withdataforWatertonL;ikesNational
Locken and Kelsey 1987, Kelsey and Bedunah Park. USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research
Station General Technical Report INT-204. Ogden,
1989), mayalsooperateinnaturalareasystems. Utiili. 124pp.
In addition to overwintering elk, diggings of Glacier National Park Records 19.39. Correspond-
other native herbivores, especially ground encebetween WD. S. Libbev, GlacierParkSupe..nten-
squirrels (Sperniopliilus Columbiamis), were dent, and G. Noffsinger, President of the Park
commonthroughoutthestudyarea.Atanyrate, ASracdhdilvees.HoGrlsaecieCroNmaptainoyna,l Pdaartke,dWeAsugtuGsltaci1e4r,, M19o3n9-.
though the status and impacts of C. maculosa tana.
andP. pratense requireadditional research, this Hitchcock. C. L., tmdA. Cronquist x973. Floraofthe
study shows that the potential effects oft—hese Pacific Northwest. Universitv' of Wtishington Press,
species—particularlv that of C. maculosa in Seattle.730pp.
naturalareabunchgrassprairiesneedtobeseri- Kelsecya,ncRe.oGf.,iiallnedloDp.athJ,vBfoerdCuenntaahure19a89s.peEccioelsoignictahlesniogrntilfii--
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Acknowledgments J.
invasions of North America and Hawaii. Springer-
Verlag,NewYork.
I thank Tom Jacobsen and Andy Tyser for invasi.o1n9s8:9.chTaermacpteerria.tsteicgsrasixsnldandcsonvsuelqnueernacbeles.toPpalgaenst
their assistance with fieldwork, Andy Matchett 15.5-179 in ]. A. Driike, H. A. Mooney, F di Ctistri,
forstatisticaladvice, and Glaciers research and R. H.Groves,F. Kmger, M. Rejmanek,andM.Wil-
J.
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