Vascular Plant and Vertebrate Inventory of Saguaro ... - USGS

them out. This information, in conjunction
with the text of this report, should enable future
researchers to repeat our work.
Verification and Assessment of Results
Photograph Vouchers
Whenever possible, we documented vertebrate
species with analog color photographs. Many
of these photographs show coloration or other
characteristics of visual appearance in detail,
and they may serve as educational tools for the
park staff and visitors. We obtained a closeup
photograph of each animal “in hand” and,
if possible, another photograph of the animal
in natural surroundings. Photographs will be
archived with other data as described above.
Specimen Vouchers
Specimen vouchers are an indisputable form of
evidence of a species occurrence. For plants, we
searched the University of Arizona Herbarium
for existing specimens from the district (see
Appendix A for results), and we collected
herbarium specimens whenever flowers or fruit
were present on plants in the field. All specimens
that we collected were accessioned into the
University of Arizona Herbarium. To prioritize
vertebrate species for voucher collection, we
first searched the park’s specimen collection and
that of other universities and collections (Table
3
1.1; see Appendix F for results). When we did
collect specimens, most were found dead. When
necessary, we euthanized animals according to
standardized and approved procedures, prepared
the specimens using accepted methods, and
deposited them in the appropriate collection at the
University of Arizona.
Assessing Inventory Completeness
We assessed inventory completeness by (1)
examining the rate at which new species were
recorded in successive surveys (i.e., species
accumulation curves; Hayek and Buzas 1997)
and (2) comparing the list of species we recorded
with a list of species likely to be present based
on previous research and/or expert opinion.
We created species accumulation curves for
all taxonomic groups except plants. For all
accumulation curves (unless indicated otherwise),
we randomized the order of the sampling periods
to break up clusters of new detections that
resulted from temporal conditions (e.g., monsoon
initiation) independent of cumulative effort. We
used the computer program Species Richness
and Diversity III (Pisces Conservation Ltd., IRC
House, Pennington, Lymington, UK) to calculate
species accumulation curves where the order
of samples was shuffled the maximum number
of times and the average was plotted, thereby
smoothing the curve.
Table 1.1. Museums that were queried in 1998 for vertebrate voucher specimens with “Arizona” and
“Saguaro National Park” and “National Monument” in the collection location.
Brigham Young University Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Norman
Chicago Academy of Sciences Peabody Museum, Yale University
Cincinnati Museum of Natural History & Science Saguaro National Park (collection now at the Western
Cornell Vertebrate Collections, Cornell University Archaeological and Conservation Center, Tucson
George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) Strecker Museum, Baylor University, Waco
Illinois Natural History Survey Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection
Marjorie Barrick Museum, University of Nevada-Las Vegas Tulane Museum of Natural History
Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing) University of Arizona
Milwaukee Public Museum University of Texas, Arlington
Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Museum of Texas Tech University University of Colorado Museum
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley United States National Museum
Museum of Life Sciences, Louisiana State University, Shreveport Walnut Canyon National Monument, Arizona
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Western Archaeological and Conservation Center, Tucson
North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences Wupatki National Monument, Flagstaff