1. Ecological Site Inventory Program
Primer on Ecological Site Inventory Program
Ecological Site Inventory Program
Nels Barrett, Ph.D. Ecologist

2. Ecological Sites
Ecological Site (ES): A distinctive kind of land based on recurring soil, landform, geological, and climate characteristics that differs from other kinds of land in its ability to produce distinctive kinds and amounts of vegetation and in its ability to respond similarly to management actions and natural disturbances. Ecological Site Description (ESD): the documentation of the characteristics of an ecological site and the interpretation of its properties as related to use and management.
ESs have a definition… … Which just means ESs can be used to characterize the ecological pattern and context across the landscape ecosystem.
This graphic shows a cross-section the Missouri Ozark landscape, showing a toposequence of plant communities associated with soil properties, which can be segregated into ESs.
Then, the ecological character of each ES so described, is detailed in the ESD document.
Example: Ecological sites (ES) associated with a Missouri Ozark landscape. Potential natural communities are tied to soil components in each land unit, resulting a in a toposequence of ecological sites.

3. Integrated Protocols: Soil Science / Vegetation Science
Vegetation dynamics
chronosequence;
S+T process models
ECOREGION OR LAND RESOURCE AREA
AND RESOURCES
parent
material
topo-graphy
climate
organisms
time / dynamics
geo-system
pedon
soil series
bio-system
vegetation relevé
ECOSYSTEM
ECOLOGICAL
SAMPLING PLOT
ECOLOGICAL PHASE
ECOLOGICAL SITE / LANDTYPE
soil map units
ECOREGION / LRR
SUBREGION:Sec:SS/MLRA
LANDSCAPE: LTA / ?LRU
LAND UNIT: ELT / ES
Vegetation-type
~ NVC “association”
forest
potential
agricultural potential
wildlife
landscape
integrity
conservation evaluation
Restoration potential
etc.
land use:
actual and trends
legislation:
socio-economic context
INTEGRATED LAND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Study subject
Environmental
factors
Ecosystem
components
Sampling units
Cartographic units
Interpretative
units
Land use
and politics
Goal
Increasing scale
Taxonomic units
modified from Gerardin & Ducruc 1990; Quebec
If there is anything special about ES/ESDs, it is the INTEGRATED nature of combining soil science (featured on the left) and vegetation science (featured on the right).
Protocols and standards for soil science and vegetation science are used jointly for Ecological Land Classification approach focusing on Ecological Sites (shown as smallest land unit in the central box).
These ES provide the FUNDAMENTAL INVENTORY WORK as the basis for all interpretations to follow (shown near the bottom), such as, conservation planning, for example.

4. Ecological Site Characterization
Subdivisions of the landscape - soil block diagram model
Soil Survey Interpretations - Extension of the soil survey
Defined by soil components and delimited by Soil Map Unts (SMU) and
Underscore Vegetation dynamics via processes of nature and disturbances
Soil Black Diagram –
Serpentine till uplands
State-and-Transition Model (STM)
(plant community-types and transitions
States
Historic Reference
Managed State ?! !?
Minimally Managed Ref.
Disturbed State 1 2 3 4
ESs are subdivisions of the landscape tied to soil components and Soil Map Units – so ESs are very soil-centric.
Another landscape example shown here is a block diagram, of upland till soils associated with serpentine bedrock in Staten Island, NY.
Furthermore for each ES, and At the heart of all ESDs is the STM, a familiar box-and-arrow diagram depicting the DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIPS among plant communities, that typify different STATES - REFERENCE STATES that are considered HISTORIC pre-settlement vegetation or MINIMALLY-MANAGED to OTHER STATES that have been conditioned by land use and other disturbances.
Relationships and agents of-change are the TRANSITIONS depicted by arrows.
Plant-community-types Phases
Transitions (arrows)
agents-of-change:
Ecological processes, disturbances, land use practices

5. Serpentine Till Uplands STM – Staten Island
Here is an example of the Serpentine Till Uplands STM.
The HISTORIC REFERENCE state is NOT shown, but the MINIMALLY-MANAGED REFERENCE site (on the left) range from little bluestem meadows to oak-tuliptree woodlands.
The other two states show a DISTURBED STATE dominated by INVASIVE plants (on the right) and another BARREN, sparsely vegetated state with some unusual plants of conservation status (at the lower left).
This STM, based on field inventories provides ecological context useful for conservation planning.

6. 2014-2020 Program shift – ESDs to PESs
Individual, detailed, field – based projects.
Requires locating sites for integrated- standardized plot sampling of soils and vegetation.
Includes detailed field information on soils vegetation plant communities found in different states in a STM
Various interpretations based on land use and mgmt.
Scientific, verifiable, but time-consuming.
PES
Multiple generalized projects, covering entire MLRAs.
Draft ESs – a first approximation or soils sorts and general vegetation.
PESs are NOT field based –most have been done without verification.
Uses pre-existing information from WSS (web soil survey) and vegetation accounts from historic NRCS WOOD-5 forms or from NatureServe and State Natural Heritage programs.
Includes generalized draft STM with limited info.
Very useful hypotheses for prioritizing and developing ESDs
From , there was a shift in focus from ESDs to Provisional Ecological Sites (PES). The idea was to get an BROAD, APPROXIMATE IDEA of all ESs per MLRA across the US.
These Provisional ecological sites are essentially DRAFT ESs, mostly NOT based on field work, but MERELY HYPOTHESES derived from PRE-EXISTING INFO about soils and vegetation, at hand.
Typically for vegetation - that means NatureServe data or State Natural Heritage Program data on largely MINIMALLY-MANAGED plant communities of which there are something like 6500(?) plant communities recognized in the NATIONAL VEGETAION CLASSIFICATION at the level of the plant ASSOCIATION. … I think.
So PES are only just a first approximation, subject to testing and further refinement.

7. Challenges of Urban ESDs
Detailed ESD
Provisional ESD
Urban ESD
H Ref
MM Ref
M State
D State ?! ! !? ?  ?
Urban ESDs often missed by PES approach except for relict sites.
Reference condition may not apply.
Typically only ruderal/replacement communities, sometimes garden-esque.
Urban Vegetation not well studied (except NYC Natural Areas entitations).
Built soils of heterogeneous materials (construction debris, spoils, fly ash, etc.
Subject to urban influences, accelerated runoff, heat island, hydrophobic soils, etc.
Urban ESs novel highly localized, and often complex.
Challenges of Urban ESDs
Urban ESDs often missed by PES approach except for relict sites. (Explain graphic)
Reference conditions may not apply.
Typically only ruderal/replacement communities, sometimes garden-esque.
Urban Vegetation not well studied (except extensive field work collected by the NYC Natural Area Conservancy).
Generally, Urban ESs novel highly localized, and often complex
Consist of Built soils of heterogeneous materials (construction debris, spoils, fly ash, etc.
Subject to urban influences, accelerated runoff, heat island, hydrophobic soils, etc.

8. Opportunities for ESD work
Provides suitable framework for organizing fundamental inventory data for characterizing ecological site context and interpretations.
Uses nationally accepted scientific standards and protocols for data collection and management.
Linked to national delivery systems, WSS (Web Soil Survey), EDIT database (Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool)
Invitation for Collaboration – working team of vegetation ecologists, soil scientists and resource/land managers.
[Many] Opportunities for ESDs:
FRAMEWORK for organizing fundamental inventory data.
Uses NATIONAL STANDARDS for soils and vegetation description and classifiction
Linked to NATIONAL DELIVERY SYSTEMS, e.g., WSS and coming in the future, EDIT
And FINALLY, its an Invitation for COLLABORATION for PARTNERSHIPS with overlapping goals for conservation.