Japanese barberry control methods: a path for climate resilient forests

To better understand the vegetation composition, evaluate landscape dynamics, and select the native species to be planted, a vegetation survey in the experimental area was conducted during the summers of 2023 and 2024. I used the Point-Centered Quarter method, combined with transect plots. This method has been previously implemented in a Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests Restoration project and is detailed in the Multiparty Monitoring and Assessment Guidelines for Community-Based Forest Restoration in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests from the USDA Forest Service (Moote et al. 2010;Shingleton 2018)

Initial transect points were selected by randomizing points with a minimum distance separation of 40 m in a raster image of the forested area. The program QGIS 2.16 Hannover was used for this purpose. Later, initial transects were located on the field using a 1x1 m resolution GPS (Emlid Reach RS2) connected to a tablet to visualize the exact point locations in real-time.

Each transect was 50 m long and had 5 points with 10 m of separation between each other. At each point, a perpendicular line to the transect divided the plot into four areas from which the distance and Diameter at the Breast High (DBH) of the closest tree (Above 12,7 cm DBH) were recorded. Considering the same central point, regeneration data was also gathered by using a 1x1 m quadrant. Inside each quadrant, the species composition and cover percentage were measured.

In summer of 2023 a total of 13 transects were surveyed and in summer of 2024 a total of 15 trisects.

A total of 13 and 15 transects were surveyed in the summers of 2023 and 2024, respectively.