Pennsylvania Community Prediction Tool for Site Restoration

The Pennsylvania Community Prediction Tool for Site Restoration (PCPT) was developed by the PA Natural Heritage Program to assist restoration practitioners in their efforts to establish native plant communities using species most likely to thrive at the site. The PCPT works by comparing site characteristics of your restoration site with ecological site characteristics of known natural vegetation communities sampled by PNHP and partners. Natural communities with similar characteristics are shown in the results and the user can generate a list of suggested species to plant based on common species found in these similar natural communities. Links to the PNHP’s natural community fact sheets are also provided.

How the data in the tool represent your site largely depends on the size and complexity of the site. An assessment site can be any size, but they should be homogenous in terms of the vegetation and site variables. If you have a large heterogeneous site, you can run the tool multiple times to get customized planting lists for each homogenous sub-unit of the site. For example, a 20-acre site might have several different restoration sub-units based on differing slope, aspect, drainage qualities, or soil chemistry.

The PA Prediction Tool is only one piece of the puzzle. It will give you a list of native plants that comprise natural communities likely to thrive on your restoration site, and a little information about each of the species, including its tolerance of human disturbance, wetland status, rarity, and growth habit. It does not tell you which plants are available at local nurseries, easy to grow, resistant to herbivory, or affordable in terms of cost – all critical factors. It does not replace a site visit by an experienced restoration ecologist, who will be able to recognize potential natural regeneration of target species, and also evaluate nearby sources of invasive species. If you are collecting your own seed from local sources (a great strategy to conserve germplasm and local genetics), you will need to work with local nurseries to research seed collection and propagation methods.

Run the Tool!

Step-By-Step Instructions for Running the Tool

Step 1: Select Location and Obtain Site Variables

The Pennsylvania Community Restoration Planting Prediction Tool works by comparing site characteristics of your restoration site with ecological site characteristics of known natural vegetation communities sampled by PNHP and partners. Through a partnership with NatureServe’s Ecological Monitoring Network, PNHP provides a list of site variables for any location within the Commonwealth that can be automatically compared with the chosen restoration site. These variables are used to generate a list of plant communities that might occur at that location.

Clicking on the Run the tool link opens a web-mapper you will use to identify the location of your restoration site, determine your site variables, and obtain a list of plant communities you will use to guide your restoration efforts.

Using the Select Target button, navigate to a specific site in the web map. When you arrive at your restoration location, click to add a point. This will set your location. Alternatively, you can type or copy in the Latitude and Longitude or address of the site in the “Find address or place” search window. Click on View Report.

Clicking the View Report link produces a list of communities likely to occur at the site based on the similarity to quantitative plot data collected by PNHP and assigned to specific plant communities based on species composition, community structure, and environmental variables. If you’re interested in wetland communities or upland communities only, you have the option to limit the results wetlands or uplands by hitting the “View Wetland Targets” or “View Upland Targets”. trial (upland) types as well. You can also see a list of wetland and upland types together by selecting the “View Full List” button.

By selecting the edit button, you can see the values for the 90 environmental variables at your site. You may override the auto-generated values if you have field data that is more precise. Select “Find Wetland Targets” or “Find Upland Targets” to regenerate the list of communities.

Note: after entering site specific data, you will need to select “Find Wetland Targets” or “Find Upland Targets” to regenerate the list of communities.

Step 2: Select the Target Plant Community Targets

The Pennsylvania Community Prediction Tool for Site Restoration will generate a list of upland (terrestrial) or wetland (Palustrine) plant communities that are similar to your site.

Natural plant communities that occur on sites similar to your restoration site are listed in order of their similarity to your site. The results do not include all Pennsylvania Communities. Only communities that are represented by at least 3 plots are included in the PCPT. For example, while PNHP recognizes a community called the Many-Fruited Sedge – Bladderwort Poor Fen, it is known from only one location in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, and is therefore not represented in the PCPT. Additionally, only plant communities composed of native plant species are included as non-native communities should never be used as targets for restoration plantings.

Step 3: Creating your species list

Once you determine the plant community or communities you want to target in your restoration effort, click the Community to produce the list of plant species occurring in the type. We suggest that you select communities that have at least a 75% similarity in ecological variables to your site. This can be saved as a spreadsheet and/or printed as a csv.

The planting list includes a link to the PNHP fact sheet of the particular natural community that is similar to your restoration site. From there you will find links to the most closely related NatureServe association and ecological system in which the community occurs.

The output includes the following information on each species:

1. Scientific Name: Scientific name in use by PNHP, which generally follows the standards of the Plants of Pennsylvania 2nd Edition (Rhoads and Block 2007).

2. Common Name: The name listed here is the one used by PNHP, but many other common names may be in use and perfectly acceptable.

3. Cover: Cover represents the percent of a plot occupied by the species, when present in the plot(s). We recommend selecting species that are found with a >10% cover.

4. Constancy: Constancy is defined as the number of community plots containing the species divided by the total number of plots used to characterize the community. We recommend selecting species that are found at a >25% constancy.

5. FQI: Floristic Quality Index rating: This rating is based on faithfulness to a natural plant community, and tolerance of and/or dependence on disturbance (particularly human disturbance). The “sweet spot” where your plantings are likely to have the best impact is for plants with FQI values ranging from 4 – 8 https://dep.wv.gov/WWE/getinvolved/Pages/Restoration-Planting-Tool.aspx.

The PA Floristic Quality Index assigned values to species based on the following criteria:

• 0: Exotic or introduced plants.
• 1-2: Native plants with a wide range of ecological tolerances and adapted to severe habitat degradation. These weedy species thrive under conditions of anthropogenic disturbance.
• 3-4: Native plants associated with more stable though degraded habitat, but which may be found in a variety of habitats. They are generally widespread and not an indicator of a particular community type.
• 5-6: Native plants with an intermediate range of ecological tolerances and often associated with a specific natural vegetation community. They include many common dominant species, and can persist under moderate degradation.
• 7-8: Native plants with a narrow range of ecological tolerances, often associated with advanced successional stage, and typically associated with stable natural vegetation communities and natural areas. They can persist where habitat has been slightly degraded.
• 9-10: Native plants with a very high degree of fidelity to a narrow range of pristine habitats, and highly sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance. They are generally restricted to high-quality natural areas.

6. Wetland Code: The wetland tolerance of species should be considered in restoration, especially in wetlands. The National Wetland Inventory (NWI) codes assigned for species in Pennsylvania are

• OBL: Obligate Wetland. Occur almost always (estimated probability >99%) under natural conditions in wetlands.
• FACW: Facultative Wetland. Usually occur in wetlands (estimated probability 67%-99%), but occasionally found in non-wetlands.
• FAC: Facultative. Equally likely to occur in wetlands or non-wetlands (estimated probability 34%-66%).
• FACU: Facultative Upland. Usually occur in non-wetlands (estimated probability 67%-99%), but occasionally found in wetlands (estimated probability 1%-33%).

7. SRank: State Conservation Status Rank. Your restoration site may provide habitat for rare species or may support a rare plant community. We do not recommend planting rare species without careful consideration and coordination with state and federal agencies. The conservation status is provided to help land managers better appreciate the potential habitat value of the site being restored. Rare plant communities are often composed of one or more rare plant species. The state ranks follow NatureServe and are as follows: