Using plant community diversity in reserve design for pothole prairie on the blackfeet Indian reservation, Montana, USA

Abstract

I sampled vegetation around 82 ponds in eight areas of glacial pothole prairie on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in north-central Montana by recording dominant species into two cover classes. I used these data to develop a community classification system and then determined the distribution of community types to calculate community richness and diversity (Shannon's H′) for each of the eight areas in order to assess their relative value in designing a prairie pothole reserve system. Plant species richness was not strongly correlated with community richness or community diversity. I used combined values of H′ as well as dissimilarity determined by Kendall's τ to select combinations of areas that provided optimal diversity and representativeness. These two methods yielded comparable but not identical results. Inventorying plant communities and using community diversity and dissimilarity to select sites are efficient and effective techniques for reserve design.