Inventory & Monitoring at Great Basin National Park

Wheeler Peak summit in Great Basin National Park

NPS Photo

Great Basin National Park was established in 1986. At that time, the lands previously designated as Lehman Caves National Monument were incorporated into the park. The park lies entirely within the Great Basin Desert, which is considered a high-elevation desert environment. Due in part to its distance from urban centers, the park contains many relatively pristine water resources and has some of the best visibility and dark night skies in the nation. It contains distinctive natural resources such as a rock glacier, six subalpine lakes, and the longest cave in Nevada (Lehman Caves).

The Mojave Desert Network provides natural resource inventory and monitoring information to help parks make effective, science-based management decisions. Inventories have been completed for mammals, fish, birds, vascular plants, and reptiles & amphibians (see species lists further down the page). Maps and reports detailing Great Basin's vegetation, soils, and geology resources are also complete.

The Mojave Desert Network carries out regular monitoring at six subalpine lakes and nine streams within the park. At the lakes, data on water quality, chemistry, and lake level are collected every year. At the streams, water quality and discharge data are collected continuously throughout the summer, and the streams are visited once per year for additional water chemistry and benthic macroinvertebrate sampling. Water monitoring is carried out jointly by our network and Great Basin staff.

Monitoring at Great Basin National Park

Ongoing Monitoring Efforts
Aspen monitoring aspen stands
Bats monitoring bat populations using acoustic and capture surveys
Integrated Uplands vegetation and soils monitoring of the Sagebrush community
Invasive & Exotic Plants monitoring plan for detecting invasive plants throughout the park
Selected Large Springs monitoring water quality and availability at three larger persistent springs
Streams & Lakes monitoring water quality, water chemistry, and availability at six subalpine lakes and nine streams
Weather and Climate monitoring temperature, precipitation, wind and other variables at park service and partner weather stations
White Pine monitoring Great Basin bristlecone pines, limber pines, and their associated pests

Reports & Publications

Inventories & Assessments present baseline data collected during the first phase of the development of the Mojave Desert Inventory & Monitoring Network in order to have comparison with the long-term monitoring data currently being collected. Monitoring protocols describe why and how we collect, manage, analyze, and report monitoring data about the network's Vital Signs. The protocols consist of a narrative and associated set of standard operating procedures (SOPs). Monitoring Reports summarize data and findings from our Vital Signs monitoring activities.

Monitoring Briefs
Short summaries of fieldwork and findings

Source: Data Store Collection 4376 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Inventories and Assessments

Source: Data Store Collection 4378 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Monitoring Protocols & Plans

Source: Data Store Collection 4380 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Monitoring Reports

Source: Data Store Collection 4379 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Species Lists

The species lists presented here are works in progress. Information may change as we continue to update lists.

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Select a Park:

Great Basin National Park

Select a Species Category (optional):

All Amphibians Birds Fish Mammals Reptiles Vascular Plants

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Species attribute definitions

Search results will be displayed here.

Visit NPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list? Let us know.