NCCN Intertidal Monitoring
Parks where protocol will be implemented
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Olympic National Park and San Juan Island National Historical Park
Importance / Issues
Intertidal communities are particularly important because of their tight ecological linkage with the near-shore coastal ocean. This tight linkage is manifested in nutrient transport, and direct exchange of organisms between these zones. Most benthic invertebrates and macroalgae have a pelagic life-stage that live in the near-shore coastal ocean and contribute to its highly productive foodweb. Intertidal communities are vulnerable to a host of anthropogenic stressors, such as pollution (e.g. oil spills), harvest, trampling, and global climate change. Intertidal communities are valuable vital signs of important changes in the near-shore marine ecosystem, and are themselves a valuable indicator of marine water quality.
Monitoring Objectives
- Characterize the inter-annual natural variation in community composition, distribution and abundance of key species in upper elevation sand beach and rocky platform invertebrate and macroalgae communities.
- Characterize the natural variation in intertidal water and air (when tidally exposed) temperatures across the geographical gradient found within the NCCN parks. This includes the longitudinal gradient from Puget Sound to the open coast, and the latitudinal gradient down the Washington coastline.
- Monitor long term trends in these parameters to detect significant changes and trigger targeted research to determine causal stressors and formulate appropriate management actions.
Potential Measures
Intertidal Step-Down Framework
- Intertidal Zone Health
- Intertidal Organisms
- Communities
- Invertebrate & Macroalgae
- Rock Platform Habitat (21% of OLYM)
- Sand Beach Habitat (30% of OLYM)
- Intertidal Habitat
- Water Quality
- Temperature
- Invertebrate & Macroalgal communities
Management Applications
By determining the range of natural variation in assemblage composition, abundance and elevational distribution, park managers will be able to detect impacts from stressors that include changes in water quality, harvest pressure, pollution, and global climate change. Determination of changes in habitat distribution and abundance can directly influence management decisions that can lead to the limitation of habitat alteration. Determination of intertidal temperatures will directly inform park managers about how changes in oceanographic processes affect intertidal organisms and will enable managers to better interpret any changes in intertidal invertebrate & macroalgal communities.
Protocol Development and Status
The draft protocol has been completed and the protocol is currently in the NCCN peer-review process (as of April 15, 2008).
Status and Trends
Not available at this time.
Contacts
Steve Fradkin
Coastal/Marine Ecologist - Olympic National Park
(360) 928-9612
References
Not available at this time.