A long-term forest monitoring program was initiated at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). The objectives of this project were to establish baseline data on the representative forest community types at MCNP based on dominant tree species. Permanent monitoring plots were established in different forest community types throughout the park. A total of 32 permanent plots were established for a combined sample area of 11.4 hectares. All stems larger than 5 cm dbh were measured and mapped within each permanent plot. Data on saplings were also collected. Distributions and abundances were determined for all species in permanent plots and combined for community type summaries. Stand tables were generated for four stem diameter size categories for each permanent plot. Stand analyses included calculation of values for species in four size categories.The results describe the forests of MCNP in various stages of succession. There is a trend toward increasing dominance of shade tolerant species in several of the community types. Species composition is in transition from the dry site, shade intolerant species in the canopy to shade tolerant species in the understory. Corpus f lorida, Acer saccharum, Fagus grandifolia, and Acer rubrum are prominent species in the understory and sapling layers. Early successional species continue to dominate heavily or recently disturbed locations on karst and dry upland sites. Juniperus virginiana is the dominant species in three of the seven community types sampled. The Hemlock and Beech-Maple Communities, Community Types II and VIII, appear to be maintaining their present species compositions and community structures. These are successionally "mature" forests, and include some of the most ecologically important areas of the park. However, Betula alleghaniensis is not reproducing in the Hemlock ravines community type, the only sites where this species occurs. Ailanthus altissima, an invasive exotic tree, was found in several of the areas sampled. / Department of Biology

AN ISOTOPIC EXAMINATION OF CAVE, SPRING AND EPIGEAN TROPHIC STRUCTURES IN MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK Name: Zacchaeus Greg Compson Date: October 15, 2004 Pages: 56 Directed by: Philip Lienesch, Doug McElroy, Michael Stokes and Richard Bowker Department of Biology Western Kentucky University Abstract High-water events in the Green River result in flow-reversals which flush native and introduced fishes into Mammoth Cave, posing threats to indigenous cave fauna. However, little is known about the trophic interactions between cave and epigean aquatic systems or their connectivity via natural springs. The purpose of this study was to use stable isotopes of C and N to describe and compare the trophic structure of epigean, spring and cave aquatic systems within Mammoth Cave National Park. Fourteen sites were sampled from fall 2002 to fall 2003; four in the Green River (epigean), four in spring-heads, and three inside Mammoth Cave. Two a priori hypotheses were tested: fish and invertebrates living in spring heads should express delta 13C values intermediate to those of organisms in cave and epigean aquatic systems and overall trophic levels in cave and spring samples should be compressed, showing lower delta15N values compared to epigean sites. Though cave and spring systems were dominated by allochthonous leaf litter, characteristic of headwater streams, the epigean system was also largely dependent on detrital inputs. Primary differences in delta13C were seen at higher trophic levels, particularly in top consumers such as Lepomis species, where delta13C values decreased from epigean to spring to cave habitats. Though all three habitats supported a similar number of trophic levels (N: 5), the trophic structure was compressed in cave and spring compared to epigean habitats. This trend, however, was obfuscated by delta15N values of accidental species in caves, which tended to be enriched, even when compared to epigean signals. This was attributed to either trophic enrichment from yolk sacs or starvation and subsequent self-processing. Overall, spring trophic structure was found to be intermediate to cave and epigean trophic structures in terms of delta13C values of upper-level fish consumers, but spring trophic structure was more similar to the cave trophic structure in terms of delta15N values, excluding cave accidentals.

A monitoring program of forest herbs was initiated at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). The objectives of this project were to produce a quantitative description of the current forest herb communities which can be used as a baseline for monitoring future change as well as a foundation for making informed management decisions. Herbaceous vegetation in previously established permanent forest monitoring plots was characterized during the summers of 1993-94. In the future, these baseline data can be used to detect changes in forest herb communities that might result from natural succession, management decisions and/or environmental changes. The landuse history for these plots was evaluated as a factor affecting the present diversity, richness and cover of the forest herbs at Mammoth Cave National Park. Prior to the establishment of MCNP, landuse consisted of a mosaic of agriculture, logging, and grazing. The park provides unique natural experiment to study the recovery of vegetation following a variety of human influenced disturbances.Thirty-two permanent plots were used to collect species presence and cover in early spring and mid-summer. Five forest herb communities were classified for spring and summer. All plots for the spring and summer community classification were the same except for two. Environmental variables, overstory vegetation, and previous landuse are identified as variables that have significant associations with herbaceous composition. Herbaceous cover, richness, and diversity were higher in areas that were forested before park establishment. The results of this study support the contention that human induced disturbances have more detrimental effect on forest herbs compared to overstory tree species. / Department of Biology

Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP) contains a diversity of forest types due to a complex mosaic of landform, rock types and land-use history. The point-centered quarter method was used to collect data for a forested vegetation classification. Stratified random sampling was done in each of the various site types found within the boundaries of MCNP. A classification based on the information available in the matrix of species importance values from each site type was constructed using two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN). Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis was used to devise an automated vegetation mapping model that can be used to predict vegetation from environmental variables. A tool to assess the accuracy of model predictions was devised. The predicted vegetation map was stored within the GIS, and allows access to a variety of data associated with inventored, classifed, and predicted plant community types. / Department of Biology

This project laid the groundwork for an Internet-delivered Public Participation Geographic Information System to facilitate exploration and discovery of the past communities of the Mammoth Cave Park area. The emergence of Internet Web 2.0 design along with distributed GIS services allows for anyone to interact with and add to the information found on central Internet sites. Historical geography often relies upon public participation from individuals outside the academic world to provide narrative descriptions, photographs and manuscripts of past places and events to augment information held by institutions and academia. A public-participation website for the Mammoth Cave Historic GIS (MCHGIS) created a central Internet location for dispersed and disparate data related to pre-park communities to be presented with a geographic context. The MCHGIS project allowed for visualization of the pre-park communities in unique ways and contributed new understandings of this pre-park area.

The 52,830-acre Mammoth Cave National Park, located in the karst region of south-central Kentucky, was formally established in July of 1941, culminating nearly three decades of park creation that displaced several thousand residents of the region. This thesis sampled residents using the 1920 manuscript census for the United States Census of Population and Housing and tracked their migration destinations using the 1930 and 1940 manuscript censuses. Migration patterns for the entire sample, as well as by race and homeownership status, were identified through mapping. Out-migrants generally chose locations north, west, and east of the proposed park area, noticeably neglecting the Deep South. Statistical analyses proved significant differences between proportions of Black out-migrants and White out-migrants moving to urban areas, as well as those of homeowners and renters who were not successfully tracked during analysis. The research underlines unintended consequences of the forced out-migration from the proposed Mammoth Cave National Park and several factors that contributed to it. In the process, the thesis fills a gap in research on Mammoth Cave National Park and sheds light on an important aspect of Kentucky’s history.

Cultural landscape reports (CLR) are commonly utilized by the National Park Service to define the significance of cultural landscapes. This thesis explores the importance of documenting not only physical characteristics of cultural landscapes, but the cultural elements such as associated values, beliefs, ideas, and traditions. My applied research was conducted for Mammoth Cave National located in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky and focuses on the Crystal Cave District. Research explores data collected through archival research, a PPGIS exercise, and ethnographic interviews to examine the experiences and relationships between research participants and the Crystal Cave District. Research findings highlight the ways in which concepts such as place, history, identity, and tradition can act as significant factors in shaping environmental relationships today.

The stability of Mammoth Cave’s microclimate has never undergone extensive investigation. The Snowball Dining Room area was chosen to measure the microclimate of the cave and to determine if food preparation, human presence and surface temperature variations alter this microclimate. Three portable weather stations containing a temperature / humidity probe, datalogger and microbarograph were placed in various locations along three passageways leading away from the dining room. Readings were taken 24 hours per day for four months. Plotting temperature readings in graph form show a correlation between temperature of the passageway and distance from the dining room.

South-central Kentucky has one of the world’s most intensively studied karstareas, with most work focusing on the Mammoth Cave System and related caves and aquifers. However, slightly higher in the stratigraphic section than Mammoth Cave, the Haney Limestone is a locally important but less well studied carbonate aquifer. This research provides the most comprehensive synthesis to date of the karst hydrogeology of the Haney Limestone of south-central Kentucky, focusing on the distribution and controls on cave and karst features developed within. In contrast to drainage systems within the major limestones below, joints are the most dominant control on passage development in the Haney Limestone within the study area and the orientation of these joints is consistent with that of regional joint sets. Bedding planes and the presence of insoluble rock at the base of the Haney also exert control on conduit development in the Haney Limestone. Most of the caves of the study area developed in the Haney Limestone are singleconduit caves that receive water through direct, allogenic sources. Cave entrances are frequently perennial spring resurgences and the presence of active streams suggests that the caves function within the contemporary landscape, acting as drains for localized recharge areas. The hydrology of the Haney Limestone plays an important, if localized, role in the regional hydrology of south-central Kentucky, integrated into the current system of surface and subsurface drainage of the regional karst landscape. Evidence supports the idea that caves of the Haney Limestone are, geologically, relatively recent phenomena. A majority of the cave passages in the study area are hydrologically active, the water resurging from the sampled springs is typically undersaturated with respect to limestone, and the caves in some case appear to be developed along potential stress release fractures associated with small, apparently young valleys. This suggests that caves in the Haney Limestone were not directly influenced by the incision of the Green River over vast periods, like Mammoth Cave, but that cave development is a largely contemporary process.

Understanding the potential for karst aquifer contamination by sediment-sorbed pesticides is important for cave conservation efforts in agricultural landscapes. Flow rate, water quality parameters and suspended sediment concentrations were measured in Logsdon River, a ~10km karst conduit within the Turnhole Spring Groundwater Basin of Mammoth Cave National Park to determine characteristics of storm-period transport of sediment-sorbed atrazine through a conduit-flow karst aquifer. Analysis of two independent precipitation events occurring in the Spring of 2008 from May 2-4 and May 27-29 demonstrated the rapid response of the Logsdon River to precipitation events with detections of atrazine increasing during the initial turbidity peak and decline in spC, indicating that the atrazine arrives with the initial flush of surface waters that enters the conduit. Distinct peaks of atrazine did not coincide with fine grained (silt and clay-sized) sediment peaks and concentrations of atrazine remained elevated on the falling limb of the hydrograph as turbidity declined. In addition, no systematic relation between filtered and unfiltered samples was evident. There was also exceedingly weak correlation between the concentration of atrazine and suspended sediment, suggesting that if atrazine is sorbed to fine sediment particles this sorption involves only the fractions finer than 0.22 μm.