Montane Forests Projects

Vegetation and soils are the foundation upon which all terrestrial ecosystems are built. Soils provide the medium for the storage and delivery of water and nutrients to plants, which in turn provide animal populations with both habitat and food.

Bryophytes are one of the largest group of land plants and includes mosses, liverworts and hornworts. They can be found almost anywhere in the world, but in the American Southwest, bryophytes are small in stature and so low in bio¬mass that they are easily overlooked. However, they play a critical role in arid ecosystems where they contribute to soil stabilization, seedling establishment, biogeochemical cycling, symbiotic relationships and habitat creation for invertebrates.

The surprise discovery in Grand Canyon National Park of some early 1900s photographs awaiting disposal led to a rare opportunity to examine forest change in the park since 1935. The photographs and associated data sheets documented a park-wide vegetation study from 1935 that generated the first ever Grand Canyon vegetation map.