Field Plots FAQ Metadata

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How should this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
  8. What biological taxa does this data set concern?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

What does this data set describe?

1. How should this data set be cited?

   North Carolina State University, Center for Earth Observation, 200803, dewa_veg_plots_2004 - Modified.

   Online Links:

   • <http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/ftp/vegmapping/dewa/dewaplot.zip>

   This is part of the following larger work.

   Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, 20060831, Vegetation Classification and Mapping of Vegetation and Fire Fuel Models at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -77.276531

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -77.160305

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.853136

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.782080

   Description_of_Geographic_Extent: Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

3. What does it look like?

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Calendar_Date: 31-Aug-2006

   Currentness_Reference: 20060831

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Entity point (251)

   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator

      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:

      UTM_Zone_Number: 18

      Transverse_Mercator:

      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.999600

      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -75.000000

      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.000000

      False_Easting: 500000.000000

      False_Northing: 0.000000

      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000016
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.000016
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   dewa_veg_plots_2004

   attributes from shapefile table (Source: Pennyslvania Natural Heritage Program)

   FID

   Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI)

   Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

   Shape

   Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

   Coordinates defining the features.

   PLOT_CODE

   plot code (Source: NPS four letter park code plus unique number)

   NPS four letter park code plus unique number

   crd_alt

   Field used to indicate whether X, Y coordinates for the plot have been altered to protect a rare species that could be vulnerable to collection. (Source: North Carolina State University)

   Value	Definition
   No	The X, Y coordinates for the plot have not been altered.
   Yes	The X, Y coordinates for the plot have been altered.

8. What biological taxa does this data set concern?

   Taxonomy:

   Keywords/Taxon:

   Taxonomic_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

   Taxonomic_Keywords: Standardized National Vegetation Classification System

   Taxonomic_Keywords: vegetation classification

   Taxonomic_Keywords: alliance

   Taxonomic_Keywords: community association

   Taxonomic_Classification:

   Taxon_Rank_Name: Kingdom

   Taxon_Rank_Value: Plantae

Who produced the data set?

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • North Carolina State University, Center for Earth Observation

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

   Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
   Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
   Ecologist
   208 Airport Drive
   Middletown, Pennsylvania 17055
   USA
   

   (717) 948-3962 (voice)
   (717) 948-3957 (FAX)
   

Why was the data set created?

To identify locations of plots from which data was collected to use in the classification and mapping efforts at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

How was the data set created?

1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

   Date: 30-Sep-2004 (process 1 of 2)

   The number and distribution of vegetation plots was determined according to the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping protocols. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is considered a large park for which the gradient directed transect sampling (gradsect) approach should be used. The gradsect approach is a variant of a stratified random sampling strategy that intends to efficiently describe the full range of vegetation by sampling along the full range of environmental variability. Gradsects are areas of the park selected for sampling that contain the strongest environmental gradients and that are reasonably accessible. This strategy optimizes the amount of data collected relative to the time and effort spent during vegetation sampling.

   In order to select gradsect areas, several environmental gradients and factors were examined, including elevation, slope, aspect, and geology. Due to the orientation of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area around the Delaware River, these factors form strong environmental gradients from the river to the ridgetops in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Thirteen potential gradsects stretching from rivershore to the park boundary were identified. These gradsects were distributed along the length of the park and on both sides of the river in order to capture environmental gradients between the southern and northern ends of the park, as well as the eastern and western sides of the river. For each of these potential gradsects, land ownership, accessibility, bedrock geology and diversity of vegetation cover types were then assessed. Seven gradsects that contained publically-owned land, reasonable access, and representative diversity of bedrock geology and vegetation cover types were selected for sampling.

   To determine the number of plots that should have been sampled in each gradsect, the vegetation cover type map was used as a guide. The number of vegetation cover types and the number of polygons per cover type in each gradsect was examined. The USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Protocol suggests that each vegetation association should have been sampled at least three times in order to capture the naturally occurring variation within the park. Therefore, in each gradsect, at least three polygons of each vegetation cover type were selected for sampling. For vegetation cover types with less than three polygons, each polygon was selected for sampling. For cover types with numerous polygons, or for types that covered large areas, polygons were selected that represented different aerial photograph signatures and environmental settings in order to capture the natural range of variability of the vegetation.

   In addition to the gradsect sampling, vegetation cover types not adequated sampled by the gradsect method were targeted. Temporarily flooded and semipermanently flooded vegetation cover types on Delaware River islands and shoreline were accessed by canoe and sampled over a three day period. Rare wetland and ridgetop communities identified in previous surveys were visited and sampled during six additional days. Towards the end of the second field season of plot sampling, the distribution of vegetation cover types sampled was compared to the distribution of all vegetation cover types in the park. Cover types that were underrepresented by the plot sampling were targeted for additional field visits. During these field visits, it was determined that most of the vegetation encountered were already adequately sampled, however some additional plots were sampled in vegetation that differed from previously sampled plots. Plot sampling was conducted from May through September in 2003 and 2004.

   Date: 05-Mar-2008 (process 2 of 2)

   The vegetation plots shapefile was altered to create a shapefile suitable for public distribution. The X, Y coordinates for each plot that contains a rare plant species that could be vulnerable to collection were changed to the coordinates for the park centroid.

   Coordinates were altered in this manner for six plots. A field named "crd_alt" was added to the shapefile attribute table; the value for this field is "no" if the plot coordinates have not been altered and "yes" if the plot coordinates were altered.

3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

1. How well have the observations been checked?

2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

   Each plot is represented by one point. All points fall within the mapped polygons.

5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

   ESRI point geometry

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: none

Use_Constraints: none

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
   USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis
   c/o USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator
   Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Room 8000, MS 302
   Denver, Colorado 80225
   

   (303) 202-4220 (voice)
   303-202-4219 (FAX)
   gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov
   

2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

   Downloadable Data

3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

   The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. These data and related graphics (if available) are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such.

   The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Any related graphics (if available) are intended to aid the data user in acquiring relevant data; it is not approriate to use the related graphics as data.

   The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. It is strongly recommended that these data are directly acquired from an U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service servers and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data. It is also strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this metadata report does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey and National Park Service.

4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	HTML
     Network links:	<http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/dewa/index.html>

   • Cost to order the data: None

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:

Last modified: 21-Mar-2008
Last Reviewed: 19-May-2010

Metadata author:

USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis
c/o USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Coordinator
Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Room 8000, MS 302
Denver, Colorado 80225

(303) 202-4220 (voice)
303-202-4219 (FAX)
gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:

FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001.1-1999)

Metadata extensions used:

• <http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/fgdc_metadata/255>