What We Monitor

Acadia's rocky intertidal zone has many life forms in it.
The rocky intertidal zone of Acadia NP teems with life.

Michael Durham

The Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) uses long-term ecological monitoring to track changes in selected park resources and processes, called "vital signs." Monitoring these key resources helps parks to understand the overall health or condition of their resources. Knowing if and how key resources are changing can help park managers to develop effective approaches to management, restoration, and mitigation.

Each monitoring program has its own protocol that includes a narrative providing the rationale for selecting a particular resource for monitoring, a framework for making necessary decisions or revisions relative to that protocol and its development, and standard operating procedures (SOP's) that explain, step-by-step, how each procedure will be accomplished. Some protocols are updated on a yearly basis and some remain unchanged for several years.

Lands & Vegetation

  • Freshwater Wetland
    Freshwater Wetland

    Track the status and trends of the ecological health of freshwater wetlands in Acadia National Park.

  • Hale Morrell and Camilla Seirup sampling trees in Acadia National Park. NPS photo.
    Forest Health

    Assess status and trends in the composition, structure, and function of NETN forested ecosystems.

  • SCA intern removes an inasive plant. NPS photo.
    Invasive Species Early Detection

    Use opportunistic sampling to find invasive species during the early stages of establishment before they have spread.

  • Gray's Lily. Jon Erickson photo
    Rare Plants

    Determine trends in rare, threatened, and endangered plant species along the Appalachian Trail corridor.

Wildlife

  • Northern Parula. Isaac Sanchez photo.
    Breeding Landbirds

    Volunteer-based, long-term monitoring program for forest and some grassland breeding bird populations in Network parks.

  • American Oystercatcher. Kelly Colgan Azar photo.
    Coastal Birds

    Volunteers monitor Boston Harbor Island coastal breeding birds which provide habitat for a significant number of colonial-nesting waterbirds

Waters

  • Snail collecting in Boston Harbor
    Rocky Intertidal

    Monitor the ecological health of the intertidal zone of Acadia and Boston Harbor Islands NRA providing an indication of trends.

  • Monitoring a NH stream.
    Water Quality & Quantity

    Monitor the status and trends of NETN aquatic resources in order to assess changes in ecological integrity and the impacts of key stressors.

Climate

  • Boston city skyline.
    Air Quality

    Determine trends and impacts of ozone pollution on selected bioindicator species, and changes in the deposition of pollutants.

  • Sugar maple leaves in fall.
    Phenology

    Use volunteers to determine phenological trends in key species to detect the effects of climate change on park resources.

Last updated: May 23, 2019