Learning Objective

This on-line information is designed to establish a solid understanding of vegetation structure and composition is necessary to understand how activities on rangelands and forested lands will affect wildlife habitat, livestock forage, fire behavior,  watershed characteristics, and many other wildland values.

Topics Covered

Module 1 - Introduction to Monitoring

• What is Monitoring

• The Main Steps

• Setting Priorities

• Pitfalls & Problems

Module 2 - Introduction to Measurements

• Natural Resource Measurements

• Units & Numbers

• Accuracy & Bias

• Data & Distribution

• Sampling Designs

Module 3 - Rangeland Soils and Ecological Site Descriptions

Module 4 - Assessing Plant Community Health

• Monitoring Protocols

• Assessing Rangeland Health

• Forest Inventory and Health Assessment

Module 5 - Measuring Plant Density

• What is Density?

• Plot-based or Quadrat Techniques

• Plotless or Distance-Based Techniques

Module 6 - Frequency or Abundance

• What is Frequency?

• Measuring Frequency

• Nested Frequency Techniques

• Analyzing Frequency Data

Module 7 - Biomass or Production

• Biomass Terminology

• Why Measure Biomass or Production?

• Direct or Destructive Methods

• Estimates and Double Sampling

• Indirect Methods

• Estimating Utilization

Module 8 - Assessing Cover

• What is Cover?

• Why Measure Cover?

• Point-Intercept Techniques

• Line-Intercept Techniques

• Plot-Based Techniques

Module 9 - Diversity, Dominance, and Similarity

• Variables to Describe Plant Communities

• Why Measure Biodiversity?

• Estimates of Biodiversity

• Estimates of Similarity

• Calculating Composition

Course Goals

This information forms a 2-credit on-line course offered every other fall semester by the Rangeland Ecology and Management Program at the University of Idaho. Questions about the course for 2011 can be sent to Dr. Karen Launchbaugh.

The course is under continual development. Feel free to explore the lessons and use this information as desired. Please report any errors or additional suggestions to Karen Launchbaugh.