Establishment and Data Collection of Vegetation-related Studies on the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project Study Sites

Abstract

The Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) is an experiment designed to determine the effects of forest management practices on important ecosystem attributes. MOFEP treatments evaluated include even-aged, uneven-aged, and no management treatments. Forest vegetation provides a common ecological link among many organisms and ecological processes, and therefore monitoring forest vegetation before and after management treatments is a high priority on MOFEP. Between 1990 and 1994, 645 permanent vegetation plots were established on the nine MOFEP sites to inventory woody vegetation, herbaceous vegetation, and down wood. During 1994-95, woody vegetation and down wood were reinventoried on the original 645 plots, and three additional plots were established in bottomland ecological landtypes. Herbaceous vegetation was inventoried annually from 1993 through 1995. By 1996, all vegetation monitoring was completed to establish baseline information before implementation of the management treatments. We describe study site selection, management treatments, and vegetation sampling methods.