Sierra Nevada Network
Monitoring: Vital Signs
Thirteen Vital Signs: Snowpack
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California Department of Water Resources snow surveyors measuring snow pack. |
Below is more detailed information on the thirteen vital signs that the Sierra Nevada Network will pursue for protocol development. Several Vital Signs are grouped according to the wider ecosystem being studied. Current sampling designs and protocols are found in the Sierra Nevada Network: Vital Signs Monitoring Plan (2007).
Abbreviations:
SIEN Sierra Nevada Network
DEPO Devils Postpile National Monument
SEKI Sequoia and Kings Canyon
National Park
YOSE Yosemite National Park
Landscape Dynamics: Landscape Mosaics, Snowpack
Vital Signs: landscape mosaics, fire regimes, snowpack, glaciers.
Justification: Regional science has identified habitat fragmentation,
invasive species, altered fire regimes, pollution, and climate change
as the five primary threats to Sierra Nevada systems. The parks of
the Sierra Nevada Network help to protect one of the nation’s
and the world’s most biotically unique and diverse locations;
the region is identified as a global biodiversity hotspot. In accordance
with this recognition, resource managers of the Sierra Nevada Network
parks must document and assess landscape changes. To assess change,
the landscape components and dynamics to be monitored will include
land use, vegetated land cover mosaic and condition, fire occurrence,
snow cover extent and duration, and extent of glaciers and permanent
snow fields. Fire regimes and climate are the most important ecosystem
drivers in the Sierra Nevada. While monitoring of climate is a separate
protocol, we have included monitoring fire regimes in the landscape
dynamics protocol due to the direct effects of fire on plant community
composition and structure. Fire regime characteristics (such as size,
frequency, and severity) are sensitive to changes in climate regime
and will influence vegetation pattern (including patch and gap dynamics).
Remote sensing of land use patterns offers a relatively rapid and cost effective
method to assess large and small spatial scale changes in the landscape. There
are two primary justifications for wanting to monitor the change in landscape
dynamics or mosaics over time. One is to document the change where and when it
occurs, informing response to crises or directing managers to areas of heightened
concern. Collected data and analysis will allow for the preparation of scientific
responses to environmental change. The second is to use data to build models
of predicted future landscape mosaic patterns, allowing managers to better prepare
for and then manage for ecosystem changes that are likely to affect processes,
systems, and individual species.
Parks: DEPO, SEKI, YOSE
Monitoring Objectives:
The objectives are to answer the following questions
- How is land cover and land use changing over time? Describe landscape pattern (status and trends) in and outside park of the mosaic (extent, size distribution, etc). Include both vegetation and abiotic land cover (snow and rock).
- How are the landscape units changing in distribution and abundance over time? Monitor the status and trends of landscape composition (abitoic and vegetation types) in space and time (richness, evenness, etc).
- How is the condition of plant communities or vegetation alliances changing in space and time? Monitor vegetation condition using several remotely sensed metrics (NDVI, LAI, FPAR).
- Monitor fire occurrence (location and spatial extent), severity, and fire type annually, and the temporal nature of fire events (including ignition and area burned seasonally) intra-annually. This will provide information to determine trends in fire return interval and fire size.
- How is the spatial extent and duration of snow cover changing over time?
Current planning status is found in theSierra Nevada Network: Vital Signs Monitoring Plan (2007).
Learn More
Climate Change
Habitat Fragmentation and Human Use
Altered Fire Regime
Air Contaminants and Atmospheric Deposition
Non-native Species
New Climate Monitoring Station at Devils
Postpile National Monument