The vertical diversity of vegetation on a plot is describ- 

 ed by the assignment of one of three vegetational layers 

 to each species recorded: 



Layer 1 - (0-1.5 ft) 



Layer 2 - (1.6-6 ft) 



Layer 3 - (6.1+ ft) 

 Confining the species list to only the predominantly oc- 

 curring plants makes the procedure fast and easy and 

 still provides a picture of the basic composition of the 

 understory vegetation. 



Part II provides plant group information that, when 

 combined with the overstory tree data, will provide a 

 vegetational profile of the plot. Part II entails an assess- 

 ment of the plant groups on the plot by layer. For each 

 of the three layers previously referred to, a cover class is 

 assigned to any of the four plant groups that occurs on 

 the plot. This characterization by plant group provides a 

 slightly different picture than the species list from Part 

 I, and includes plants not abundant enough to be record- 

 ed by species, but which contribute to the vegetational 

 structure when grouped. 



DISCUSSION 



Information collected with the Understory Vegetation 

 Inventory Procedure, when combined with the overstory 

 data taken on Forest Survey plots, will provide a struc- 

 tural profile of the plant community for each location. 

 This profile can be interpreted in many ways for use in 

 various disciplines. 



For example, the data may be used to obtain 

 estimates of area of wildlife habitat. Computer programs 

 are available at this time such as WILD RAM (Winn 

 and others n.d.) used by Forest Service Intermountain 

 Region and WFHR (Prather and Burbridge n.d.) used by 

 Forest Service Northern Region. These programs use 

 general timber stand variables such as forest type, size 

 class, age, canopy cover, and other stand features, to 

 predict potential wildlife use of a site for feeding, 

 breeding, or resting. More specific types of designations 

 could be made using the understory structure and com- 

 position information provided by inventory data. Corr- 

 elations of animal species with timber site capacity and 

 animal species diversity with stand condition may also 

 be developed. 



The understory vegetation information combined with 

 habitat type designations such as those presented by 

 Pfister (1976) would give an'indication of the potential 

 climax vegetation and serai stage of the plant communi- 

 ty. This information would be useful for many range, 

 wildlife, and silvicultural interpretations. 



The data may also be useful in conversion to estimates 

 of biomass. Some biomass conversion factors or equa- 



tions have been developed using cover and height infor- 

 mation of either plant groups or individual species 

 (Brown and Marsden 1976; Alexander 1978; Olson and 

 Martin 1981). For range managers, the data can provide 

 a list of preferred forage species present or relative 

 amounts of herbaceous or browse materials available. 

 Such information should be useful in evaluating the ef- 

 fects of various resource interactions. 



EXAMPLE 



An illustration of the vegetation occurring on one five- 

 point location cluster (fig. 2) would have a corresponding 

 entry such as the example in figure 3. One way of sum- 

 marizing the combined overstory and understory data of 

 a location is the vegetation profile (fig. 4). This profile 

 plots height of vegetation over percent canopy cover of 

 the four different plant classes— trees, shrubs, forbs, and 

 graminoids. 



Several observations can be made about the vegeta- 

 tional structure of this plot. The plot has extensive 

 grass/forb cover that could make it a feeding area for 

 deer and elk. The presence of the forb Arnica cordifolia, 

 which is preferred by elk (USDA Soil Conservation Ser- 

 vice 1982), makes this type of condition more favorable 

 for use by elk. This condition would not be preferred for 

 hiding cover for deer and elk because of the inadequate 

 tree and shrub cover between 2 and 6 feet. Thermal 

 cover requirements for elk and deer are not met because 

 the overstory canopy cover does not exceed 70 percent 

 (USDA Forest Service 1979). Thus, this condition would 

 probably be used by deer and elk only for transitory 

 feeding. 



The structural diversity of the vegetation on this 

 plot— grass/forb, shrub, seedling, and multistoried 

 canopy layers all present— indicates that the area could 

 be used by many species of birds. The bird population 

 could include insect gleaners feeding in the tree and 

 shrub layers and on the ground, and species that breed 

 in dense low tree and high shrub canopies. The high 

 amount of herbaceous cover on the plot indicates that 

 forage is available for domestic animals although none of 

 the species listed are preferred by livestock (USDA Soil 

 Conservation Service 1982). 



The vegetational information of a plot is not meant to 

 stand alone. Usually the profiles are developed for a 

 group of field locations that meet specific criteria. In ad- 

 dition, the vegetation profile is meant to be used with 

 other data collected such as elevation, slope, aspect, size 

 of condition, nearness to roads, nearness to water, and 

 snags and other special features for wildlife, which are 

 important but are not within the scope of this paper. 



3 



