Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Plant Inventory, 2004-2006 Kahuku Survey

455 vascular plant species were documented in ground and helicopter surveys of the Kahuku addition to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park between 2004 and 2006. The dataset, created by the Department of the Interior, includes 177 vegetation plots and maps 41 km of transects. It identifies native and alien species, including 5 endangered, 1 threatened, and 26 locally rare native plants.

Use Cases

• Modeling invasive species spread based on mapped locations of 43 disruptive alien plant taxa.
• Assessing biodiversity and conservation status based on counts of endangered, threatened, and rare native species.
• Classifying vegetation communities based on floristic composition data from 177 ground-surveyed plots.
• Planning management interventions based on identified sites with high concentrations of rare or invasive plants.

Strengths

• Surveys covered 41 km of transects and 177 vegetation plots, providing ground-truthed data.
• Documents a specific flora of 455 species with quantified proportions (40% native).
• Identifies and categorizes specific counts of protected species (5 endangered, 1 threatened, etc.).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection occurred in 2004-2006; current species distributions may have changed.

Provenance

Source

Department of the Interior

Collection Method

Ground and helicopter surveys along transects and vegetation plots.

Time Range

2004 to 2006

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-04 01:19:32.065166; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Kahuku Ranch addition, Ka'u district, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii