It is against a backdrop of vanishing or altered ecosystems, declining bird populations and the unique role that National Park Service lands can play in conserving threatened bird species that the authors propose monitoring avian communities on National Park Service lands within the HTLN. Long-term trends in the community composition and abundance of breeding bird populations provide one measure for assessing the ecological integrity and sustainability of ecosystems. Long-term patterns in community composition and species abundance in relation to changes in the structural diversity of...

The authors detail why monitoring the current status and population trends of fish communities and their habitats is an important tool for preserving and conserving aquatic resources in the national parks. The framework for monitoring small streams located in HTLN parks is directed towards maintaining their ecological integrity, which will be assessed through periodic monitoring of fish communities, physical habitat, and water quality. The authors describe the protocol which has been designed to incorporate the spatial relationship of biotic indicators with chemical constituents and physical...

Vegetation community monitoring in the HTLN parks is designed to detect and describe changes in prairie, savanna-woodland and forested communities. There are three primary objectives for the monitoring defined in this protocol: 1. Describe the species composition, structure and diversity of prairie, savanna-woodland and forested communities; 2. Determine temporal changes in the species composition, structure and diversity of prairie, savanna-woodland and forested communities; 3. Determine the relationship between temporal and spatial changes and environmental variables including specific...