[PCA] Measuring Plant Diversity nationwide in the next 10 years?

[Craig Dremann]

Dear Olivia and All,

I'd glad you posted your note about "Measuring plant diversity,
predicting vulnerability to invasive species." 

That is exactly what I'm suggesting about trying to achieve Statewide
Ecological Megatransects for the lower 48 states in the next 10 years
--as your note said, "it is critical that scientists accurately assess
the composition of plant communities over large areas." 

Megatransects of the non-riparian ecosystems that are the most
vulnerable to exotic invasions, in particular highway roadsides and the
native perennial grass/perennial forb understories, would be extremely
important data to have nation-wide.

You can see from our Megatransect mapped data in California, when 99%+
of the original native plant understory becomes extinct, all those tens
of millions of acres then become now vulnerable to whatever exotic plant
that can naturalize itself in our climate, which is over 1,000 species
and growing.

Conversely, within the Great Basin portion of the 1997 Megatransect,
cheatgrass only becomes a significant weed in areas of severely weakened
native ecosystems, or areas where the original native plant understory
had been removed, offering vacancies for the cheatgrass to thrive.

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA. (650) 325-7333