Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
.
b..
Measure. ecological. change. at. two. scales:. local. (ground. based). and.
landscape.(remotely.sensed).
.
i..
Long-term sample site measures
:. Co-locate. a. small. suite. of. con-
ceptually.inter-related.ground.measures.in.long-term.sample.areas.
(e.g.,.plots,.transects).situated.and.replicated.in.“focal.ecosystems”.
according. to. a. robust. sample. design. that. maximizes. inference. to.
the.whole.park.(and.accounting.for.logistic.issues).and.that.can.be.
used.to.verify.or.calibrate.remote-sensing.measures.
.
ii..
Other ground-based measures
:.Establish.various.measures.focus-
ing.on.populations.of.focal.park.species.and.important.ecological.
processes.
.
iii..
Remote sensing-based measures
:.Utilize.remote.sensing.to.capture.
landscape-scale. change,. such. as. changes. in. the. area. of. park. eco-
types,.ecosystem.productivity,.and.snow.and.ice.phenology.
.
5..All. EI. Measures. will. have. biologically. based. thresholds. that. provide.
criteria. for. assessing. Good,. Fair,. and. Poor. EI. condition. and. trend..
Thresholds. for. most. EI. Measures. will. evolve. from. those. deined. by.
statistical. change. into. biologically. based. thresholds. as. monitoring. and.
research.evolve..EI.Measures.are.rolled.up.within.EI.Indicators.to.pro-
vide. a. simple. and. repeatable. assessment. of. the. EI. condition. of. each.
EI. Indicator.. The. assessments. of. EI. condition. and. trend. for. each. EI.
Indicator. form. the. basis. for. reporting. park. EI. condition. and. trend. in.
State.of.the.Park.reports.
.
6.. EI.condition.is.reported.by.each.park.every.ive.years.in.State.of.the.Park.
reports,.which.are.plain-language.documents.that.communicate.signiicant.
ecological. change. to. a. broad. audience.. State. of. the. Park. reports. are. sup-
ported. by. a. Technical. Compendium. that. presents. all. rationale,. analyses,.
and.data.used.to.make.the.assessments.
In.that.all.park.ecosystems.cannot.be.monitored.using.long-term.ground.sampling,.
the. approach. proposed. is. to. concentrate. local-scale. ground. sampling. in. carefully.
selected.“focal.ecosystems,”.and.support.these.observations.through.monitoring.of.
focal.populations.and.ecological.processes,.and.through.remote.sensing.to.reach.out.
to.the.whole.park..Focal.ecosystems.are.terrestrial.ecotypes.or.other.logical,.local-
scale.ecosystems.(e.g.,.uniform.stream.segments.or.“reaches”).that.will.be.selected.
by.each.park.depending.on.local.priorities..For.example,.they.could.be.selected.to.
monitor.change.in.those.ecosystems.most.important.to.park.fauna.or.in.ecosystems.
most.responsive.to.predicted.ecological.change..Ideally,.we.will.work.cooperatively.
with.other.agencies.to.develop.a.small.set.of.“core.measures”.(presently.undeined).
for.each.EI.Indicator/major.ecosystems.that.will.be.common.to.all.northern.national.
parks,.and.could.also.be.used.by.other.agencies.and.community-based.monitoring.
efforts.across.the.North.
