Local Variation in Bryophyte and Macro-lichen Cover and Diversity in Montane Forests of Western Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The patterns of cover and species diversity (richness and composition) of macro-lichens, bryophytes, and vascular plants are described for a Canadian montane forest in an area where the forest is highly valued both for wood production and for the terrestrial lichen that is a vital part of the diet of the endangered woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou Gmelin). In 180, 6.5 m × 6.5 m plots placed in nine stands within a 375 km2 area, we found lichens were abundant, but the ground layer was dominated by feather moss. Mean species richness at the plot level for lichens (23) is about double that of bryophytes (13) and vascular plants (11). Differences in species composition are small with any two plots having in common at least 50% of their vascular plants, 60% of their bryophytes, and 70% of their lichens. Comparisons of 10% of the most open with 10% of the most dense canopy plots revealed that the more open sites have greater lichen cover, higher elevation, older trees, more lichen and vascular plant species, less moderately decayed logs, and lower cover of Pleurozium schreberi, the dominant feather moss. Twenty-two species (14%) were found only once; of these five were lichens (9% of the lichen flora), six bryophytes (17% of the bryophyte flora), and 11 vascular plants (17% of the vascular plant flora). None of these is provincially endangered, but all are rare in this particular forest type. Only three of these species occur in the 20% of sites having the most open or dense canopies. Our data indicate that at the local scale, the ground layers of these forests are highly variable and have little local distinctiveness. The lack of strong environmental correlations with species patterns suggests that within the natural forest regime other factors are at least partially responsible for ground layer patterns at the local scale. These may include dispersal and establishment success as well as stochastic disturbance regimes.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".