Description
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 80 records.
2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Irazuzta S, Stegman N (2026). Vegetation composition of prairie creation, old-field, and meadow sites in Hamilton, Ontario (2020). Version 1.0. McMaster University. Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.5886/dn5lei
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is McMaster University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has not been registered with GBIF
Keywords
Samplingevent; Vegetation survey; plant community composition; quadrat sampling; prairie creation; old field; meadow; percent cover; vegetation composition; restoration ecology; Pfister scale; Hamilton; Ontario; Canada; McMaster Research & Conservation Corridor.
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Ph.D. candidate
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9895-2784
- Originator
- Ph.D. candidate
Geographic Coverage
Five sampling sites were surveyed in the Hamilton, Ontario region, Canada. Four sites were located within the 48-ha McMaster Forest property north of Lower Lions Club Road and Highway 2 in Hamilton, Ontario. A fifth site was located on Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) land north of the intersection of Jerseyville Road and Shaver Road, Hamilton, Ontario. The five sites were: 1. Created Prairie (CP) (43.2463 N, 79.9524 W), a 4 ha prairie creation site established on clay substrate following seeding in 2013-2014. The site was previously an old field dominated by woody and invasive vegetation. 2. Old Field Adjacent (OA) (43.2484 N, 79.9496 W), a 3 ha old field immediately north of CP on clay substrate, sparsely vegetated and dominated by non-native grasses and ruderal species. 3. HCA Meadow (HCA) (43.2160 N, 80.0174 W), an 8 ha meadow on loam substrate located approximately 6.2 km southwest of McMaster Forest on Hamilton Conservation Authority land. The site occurs in a landscape historically associated with tallgrass prairie, as indicated by remnant prairie species persisting along fence lines and rock piles. Contemporary surveys indicate dominance by non-native old-field grasses and tall goldenrod. 4. Old Field North (ON) (43.2515 N, 79.9465 W), a 0.8 ha old field at the northern end of McMaster Forest, approximately 800 m from CP, characterized by tall, dense vegetation on loam substrate. Sites occur within the Lake Erie Lowland ecoregion of southern Ontario. Coordinates represent site-level centroids for each 50 × 50 m survey plot and do not indicate exact quadrat locations. Geographic coordinates for all sampling sites were recorded in the field using a handheld Garmin GPSMAP 62 unit and are reported in the WGS84 geodetic datum. Coordinate uncertainty values are provided to reflect spatial generalization.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
N/A
| Family | Onagraceae, Montiaceae, Balsaminaceae, Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Hypericaceae, Rubiaceae, Lamiaceae, Juncaceae, Malvaceae, Oxalidaceae, Fabaceae, Violaceae, Orchidaceae, Urticaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Cornaceae, Rhamnaceae, Plantaginaceae, Lauraceae, Verbenaceae, Sapindaceae, Berberidaceae, Rosaceae, Ranunculaceae, Equisetaceae, Cyperaceae, Vitaceae, Apiaceae, Oleaceae, Convolvulaceae, Primulaceae, Cupressaceae, Apocynaceae, Plygonaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Celastraceae, Asteraceae, Salicaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Polygonaceae, Juglandaceae |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date | 2020-06-05 |
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Project Data
This project involved standardized vegetation surveys conducted in 2020 at prairie creation, old-field, and meadow sites in Hamilton, Ontario. The surveys were designed to characterize plant community composition and structure following multi-year pollinator sampling and to support analyses of habitat variation across restored and unmanaged open-canopy systems.
| Title | Vegetation composition of prairie creation, old-field, and meadow sites in Hamilton, Ontario (2020) |
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| Identifier | McMaster-Vegetation-2020 |
| Funding | No external funding was received specifically for this component of the study. |
| Study Area Description | Five sampling sites were surveyed in the Hamilton, Ontario region, Canada. Four sites were located within the 48 ha McMaster Forest property north of Lower Lions Club Road and Highway 2 in Hamilton, Ontario. A fifth site was located on Hamilton Conservation Authority land north of the intersection of Jerseyville Road and Shaver Road, Hamilton, Ontario. The five sites were as follows. Created Prairie (CP) at 43.2463 N, 79.9524 W. This is a 4 ha prairie creation site established on clay substrate following seeding in 2013 and 2014. The site was previously an old field dominated by woody and invasive vegetation. Old Field Adjacent (OA) at 43.2484 N, 79.9496 W. This is a 3 ha old field immediately north of the Created Prairie site on clay substrate. The site is sparsely vegetated and dominated by non native grasses and ruderal species. HCA Meadow (HCA) at 43.2160 N, 80.0174 W. This is an 8 ha meadow on loam substrate located approximately 6.2 km southwest of McMaster Forest on Hamilton Conservation Authority land. The site occurs in a landscape historically associated with tallgrass prairie, as indicated by remnant prairie species persisting along fence lines and rock piles. Contemporary surveys indicate dominance by non native old field grasses and tall goldenrod. Old Field North (ON) at 43.2515 N, 79.9465 W. This is a 0.8 ha old field at the northern end of McMaster Forest, approximately 800 m from the Created Prairie site. The site is characterized by tall, dense vegetation on loam substrate. Wet Meadow (WM) at 43.2495 N, 79.9510 W. This is a 0.8 ha seasonally wet mineral marsh meadow located approximately 400 m northwest of the Created Prairie site. All sites occur within the Lake Erie Lowland ecoregion of southern Ontario. Coordinates represent site level centroids for each 50 x 50 m survey plot and do not indicate exact quadrat locations. Geographic coordinates for all sampling sites were recorded in the field using a handheld Garmin GPSMAP 62 unit and are reported in the WGS84 geodetic datum. Coordinate uncertainty values are provided to reflect spatial generalization. |
| Design Description | Study extent Vegetation surveys were conducted at five fixed sites corresponding spatially to previously established bee survey plots. At each site, surveys were restricted to a 50 x 50 m area used for standardized bee sampling. This design allowed direct comparison of vegetation structure among sites within a consistent spatial framework. Sampling description Vegetation surveys were carried out in early June 2020 across all five sites. At each site, vegetation was sampled within a fixed 50 x 50 m plot corresponding to the bee survey area. Within each plot, 15 randomly selected 1 m2 quadrats were surveyed, resulting in a total of 75 quadrats across the dataset. Estimates of bare ground cover were made for each quadrat at all sites and are provided as event level measurements rather than taxon occurrences. Within each quadrat, all vascular plant and bryophyte species were identified to species or morphospecies by N. Stegman and S. Irazuzta using published identification keys. For each species and for bare ground, percent cover was estimated using the Pfister cover class scale. The Pfister scale included the following cover classes: 0 percent, 0 to 1 percent, 1 to 5 percent, 5 to 25 percent, 25 to 50 percent, 50 to 75 percent, 75 to 95 percent, and 95 to 100 percent. To maintain consistency across surveys and observers, cardboard reference squares scaled to represent each cover class within a 1 m2 quadrat were used during field estimation. To improve estimates of total site level species richness, additional plant species observed outside quadrats but within the 50 x 50 m survey area were also recorded as separate site level inventory records. These inventory records document species presence only and do not include percent cover estimates. Quality control Percent cover was recorded in the field as ordinal Pfister cover class categories. For data publication and analysis, percent cover values are reported as numeric midpoint estimates derived from each Pfister cover class bin, for example 1 to 5 percent recorded as 3 percent. These midpoint values represent approximate transformations of the original ordinal observations and are explicitly labeled as derived values in the dataset. Users are advised to interpret reported percent cover values as estimates rather than exact measurements. Additional information and temporal context Vegetation surveys were conducted after the completion of bee sampling between 2014 and 2016. These data provide a standardized characterization of vegetation structure and composition following the bee sampling period. Vegetation conditions at most sites were relatively stable over time, whereas the prairie creation site continued to change following seeding in 2013 and 2014. Vegetation data are therefore intended to represent realized vegetation state rather than contemporaneous conditions during bee sampling. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
Vegetation surveys were conducted in early June 2020 across all five sites. At each site, vegetation was sampled within a fixed 50 x 50 m plot corresponding to the standardized bee survey area. Within each plot, 15 randomly selected 1 m2 quadrats were surveyed, resulting in a total of 75 quadrats across the dataset. Within each quadrat, all vascular plant and bryophyte species were identified to species or morphospecies by N. Stegman and S. Irazuzta using published identification keys. For each species and for bare ground, percent cover was estimated using the Pfister cover-class scale. To improve estimates of site-level species richness, additional plant species observed outside quadrats but within the 50 x 50 m plot were recorded as supplemental site-level inventory records. These records document species presence only and do not include percent cover estimates.
| Study Extent | Vegetation surveys were conducted at five fixed sites in the Hamilton, Ontario region, Canada. Surveys were restricted to standardized 50 x 50 m plots corresponding spatially to previously established bee survey locations. Each plot represented a discrete sampling unit, allowing vegetation structure and composition to be compared consistently among sites within a common spatial framework. |
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| Quality Control | Percent cover was recorded in the field as ordinal Pfister cover-class categories. For data publication and analysis, percent cover values are reported as numeric midpoint estimates derived from each Pfister cover-class bin (for example, 1 to 5 percent recorded as 3 percent). These midpoint values represent approximate transformations of the original ordinal observations and are explicitly identified as derived values in the dataset. To maintain consistency across observers, cardboard reference squares scaled to represent each cover class within a 1 m2 quadrat were used during field estimation. Users are advised to interpret reported percent cover values as estimates rather than exact measurements. Vegetation surveys were conducted after the completion of bee sampling conducted between 2014 and 2016. The data therefore represent realized vegetation state following the bee sampling period rather than contemporaneous vegetation conditions during bee surveys. |
Method step description:
- At each site, a fixed 50 x 50 m plot was established corresponding to a previously defined bee survey area. Within each plot, 15 quadrat locations were selected at random and marked temporarily for sampling. Vegetation surveys were conducted in early June 2020. Within each 1 m2 quadrat, all vascular plant and bryophyte taxa were identified to species or morphospecies, and percent cover was visually estimated for each taxon and for bare ground using the Pfister cover-class scale. Estimates were recorded directly in the field. Additional plant species observed outside quadrats but within the plot boundary were recorded separately as site-level inventory records without associated cover estimates. Following field collection, Pfister cover-class values were converted to numeric midpoint estimates for data publication. These derived values were used to populate event-level measurements in the dataset and are identified as estimated values rather than direct measurements.
Bibliographic Citations
- Pfister, R. D., Kovalchik, B. L., Arno, S. F., and Presby, R. C. (1977). Forest habitat types of Montana. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-34. Chamberlain, S. (2018). Vascular plants of Ontario: identification guide. Newcomb, L., and Morrison, B. (1989). Newcomb's wildflower guide.
Additional Metadata
| Acknowledgements | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | |
| Getting Started | |
| Purpose | |
| Maintenance Description | This dataset represents a completed vegetation survey conducted in early June 2020. No regular updates are planned, though corrections or clarifications may be made if required. |
| Alternative Identifiers | 10.5886/dn5lei |
| https://data.canadensys.net/ipt/resource?r=mcmaster-vegetation-samplingevents |