30, Flirty, and Thriving… and Evolving: New Approaches to Demography Studies After Three Decades

Denver Botanic Gardens has been conducting demographic monitoring studies on rare plants across Colorado for 30 years. The tried-and-true methods have persisted for decades, but new approaches and technology have greatly improved the analyses we can conduct with the data, the way we collect data, and the time it takes to input data. Case studies on four species will be shared: 1) Data from a 30-year study on Astragalus microcymbus has been analyzed using both conventional matrix population models as well as mark-recapture methods to determine the accuracy of predicting the probability of detection. The study highlights that long-term demographic viability studies that have not addressed detectability can be revisited with minimal additional data to correct for imperfect detection. Studies that have traditionally assumed perfect detection may have missed trends, risk indicators, and conservation opportunities for rare plants. 2) Drones are being tested to monitor a rare annual plant found on sensitive soils, Phacelia submutica. Updates from the 2024 field season will be shared. 3) In 2023, a new long-term demography study was initiated for a rare alpine species, Physaria alpina. In addition to the traditional demographic monitoring, data is also being collected on community composition measurements to understand the change in alpine plant communities over time. 4) Data collection on tablets was implemented a couple of years ago for much of our work, including demography studies. This presentation will focus on using tablets and Survey123 for demographic data collection of a rare cactus, Sclerocactus glaucus.