Stephen M Smith

Dune Vegetation Monitoring: Analysis of 2011 Survey Data and Changes in Plant Communities Since 2005 Stephen M Smith

In 2011, monitoring was conducted to follow up on a 2005 survey of dune vegetation habitat and for continued development of a long-term vegetation monitoring protocol for this ecosystem. In 2005, thirty vegetation sampling sites were established in what was then dune grassland habitat throughout Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO), arranged along seven transects running perpendicular to the coastline from Chatham to Provincetown. Each site consisted of two 10×10-m plots. In addition to distance from coastline, sites were characterized by integrating GIS technology to assess landscape changes and succession.