Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs OUTPUTS: The mission of the National Park Service is "to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations". To uphold this goal, the Director of the NPS approved the Natural Resource Challenge to encourage national parks to focus on the preservation of the nation's natural heritage through science, natural resource inventories, and expanded resource monitoring. Through the Challenge, 270 parks in the national park system were organized into 32 inventory and monitoring networks. The Mojave Desert Inventory and Monitoring Network in collaboration with each of its seven network parks has identified 20 priority vital signs, indicators of ecosystem health, which represent a broad suite of ecological phenomena operating across multiple temporal and spatial scales. A narrative protocol and standard operating procedures were developed to monitor riparian vegetation to address six of the vital signs: vegetation change, invasive/exotic plants, soil hydrologic function, soil chemistry and nutrient cycling, soil erosion and deposition, and soil disturbance. This protocol will also be conducted in collaboration with the groundwater and springs protocol, which addresses the groundwater dynamics and chemistry, surface water dynamics, and surface water chemistry vital signs. Monitoring of riparian vegetation will take place at desert springs at five of the network parks, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Mojave Mojave National Preserve, and Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. In order to asses the health of the vital signs we will monitor the status and trends of, and the relationships between four main attributes of desert spring vegetation, 1) the areal extent of spring vegetation patches, 2) their species composition, abundance and structure, 3) the physical and chemical properties of their soils, and 4) their discharge and water quality. 1892 springs were assessed in the springs inventory. We will monitor 140 springs across the five parks in a rotating panel design, with 20 springs visited every other year and 120 visited every fourth year. The data will be analyzed using a mixed model approach. This protocol details the why, where, how, and when of the monitoring program. The protocol consists of a narrative and a set of standard operating procedures, which detail the steps required to collect, manage, and disseminate the data representing the status and trend of water quality parameters in the Network. Collected data, in combination with other vital signs monitoring, will provide a context for the interpretation of status and trends in water resources within the network. The protocol was field tested in 2011 and then submitted to the Mojave Network. PARTICIPANTS: Wendy Trowbridge TARGET AUDIENCES: National Park Service, Mojave Network PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts This protocol will allow the parks in the Mojave Network to monitor their riparian spring vegetation over time and detect long term changes and threats to these critical systems.
Publications
- No publications at this time. The Narrative and SOPs have been submitted to the Mojave Network (2011).
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs OUTPUTS: Objectives: The goal of this project is for the National Park Service and the University of Nevada to collaboratively develop protocols for the long-term monitoring of status and trends of riparian vegetation communities within Mojave Desert Network parks. Specifically the protocol will: 1) detect significant shifts in riparian vegetation community composition, structure, distribution, and areal extent, 2) determine the status and trend in mortality and regeneration of principal (dominant or targeted) riparian plant species, 3) determine the status and trends in abundance of principal woody riparian plant species, 4) Detect significant increases in the frequency and abundance of targeted invasive plant species (to be determined by Invasive/Exotic Plants protocol). Methods:In order to develop these protocols the Chandra lab will review the relevant literature and meet with Park Service personnel at the Parks within the network and at other networks developing similar protocols. We will prepare a draft protocol and then work with Park staff to insure that it meets their needs. We will work with the Park data base manager to develop the riparian vegetation monitoring database. 2010 progress: During the 2010 calendar year we worked with the Mojave Inventory and Monitoring Network to develop field methods to address their monitoring questions and measurable objectives. We reviewed the relevant literature and met regularly with network personnel. We presented our progress in September at the technical committee meeting in Boulder City. In mid October we submitted a draft protocol narrative and initial SOPs. We also developed a plan to implement these field methods in spring of 2011 to test the methods, conduct a power analysis and estimate the error associated with the various techniques (e.g. quadrat cover estimates, GPS mapping of aerial extent). We will conduct this field testing in spring of 2011 and submit the final protocol in fall based on what we learn. PARTICIPANTS: Wendy Trowbridge, University of Nevada, Reno - Wendy conducted and was paid for the research involved with this project Collaborators: Geoff Moret, University of Idaho Debbie Soukup, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Donovan Craig, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Jean Pan, MOJN Dana Robinson, MOJN Jennifer Burke, MOJN Nita Tallent-Halsell, MOJN TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: We extended the funding and added one field season of methods testing.
Impacts Change in action: We developed field methods that will be implemented this springs and a draft of protocols that will be used in a long term monitoring program throughout the Mojave parks.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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