Vital Signs
The NPS Inventory & Monitoring Program defines the term “vital sign” as “a subset of physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems that are selected to represent the overall health or condition of park resources, known or hypothesized effects of stressors, or elements that have important human values” (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/).
The ROMN has identified 12 high-priority vital signs for monitoring. In the context of the NPS Ecological Monitoring Framework, two high-priority ROMN vital signs relate to Air and Climate, three relate to Water, six relate to Biological Integrity, and one relates to Ecosystem Pattern and Processes. These vital signs, and our sampling objectives, will be developed in detail (and will evolve) as we complete and implement monitoring protocols over the next three-to-five years.
Little Bighorn Battlefield Grassland Transect
High Priority ROMN Vital Signs
1. Wet and Dry Deposition;
2. Weather and Climate;
3. Water Chemistry;
4. Surface Water Dynamics;
5. Freshwater Communities;
6. Invasive/Exotic Aquatic Biota;
7. Groundwater Dynamics;
8. Wetland Communities;
9. Invasive/Exotic Plants;
10. Vegetation Composition, Structure, and Soils;
11. Focal Species: Beaver, Elk, Grizzly Bear, and GRSA Endemic Insects;
12. Landscape Dynamics.
The vital signs selection process was a collaborative effort among park managers, park professional staff, ROMN and other NPS staff, and scientific and technical partners outside the NPS. Vital-signs development began during Phase I, and included conducting park scoping meetings, developing descriptions of the natural setting and management issues in each park, and formulating conceptual models of key ecological processes within possible vital signs. Phase II efforts continued the process of identifying, describing, and selecting vital signs, and were natural extensions of activities conducted during Phase I. Key efforts in Phase II included two workshops for developing vital signs objectives, an ROMN Technical Committee meeting devoted to identifying vital signs priorities, and a meeting dedicated to selecting vital signs.
For efficiency and to enhance interpretation, some ROMN vital signs will be monitored at the same time and place as others, and thus are included in the same protocol(s). Other vital signs appear in more than one protocol. Therefore, there are 14 protocols for the 12 high-priority vital signs.
A protocol may have a 1:1 relationship to a vital sign (e.g., the Landscape Dynamics protocol addresses the Landscape Dynamics vital sign), a “1:many” relationship to vital signs (e.g., the Stream Ecological Integrity protocol includes the Water Chemistry, Surface Water Dynamics, Freshwater Communities, and Invasive Aquatic Biota vital signs), or a “many:1” relationship to a vital sign (e.g., both the Stream Ecological Integrity and Alpine Lakes protocols will generate data and information on the Water Chemistry vital sign). See the Relationship of Vital Signs to Protocols Diagram for a visual map of the protocol to vital sign relationships.
(Rocky Mountain Network Vital Sign Monitoring Plan, 2007, pages 37, 46, 67 - 82)