Monitoring in Mesa Verde and the Region

The Mancos River at Mesa Verde National Park is home to a very diverse group of aquatic macroinvertebrates. These insect larvae, worms, and snails play a key role in the cycling of nutrients in aquatic systems and are a great indicator of river health. Here we look at population trends using data collected from 2008-2019 by the Southern Colorado Plateau Network.

Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.

The data packages for all our long-term monitoring efforts across the Southern Colorado Plateau are the foundations for almost everything we do here. We recently underwent our biggest effort yet in reformatting our data to fit the new standards put out by the Inventory & Monitoring Division. We are proud to announce that two of our largest datasets have now been published and are available for everyone to utilize.

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.

Across the Intermountain Region, Inventory & Monitoring Division ecologists are helping to track the effects of climate change, provide baseline information for resource management, evaluate new technologies, and inspire the next generation of park stewards. This article highlights accomplishments achieved during fiscal year 2021.

Aquatic macroinvertebrates, such as insect larvae, snails, and worms, play a vital role in stream ecosystems, both as a food source and as consumers of algae and other organic matter. Because macroinvertebrates are sensitive to environmental change, monitoring them can help to detect chemical, physical, and biological impacts to aquatic ecosystems.

Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network bird monitoring allows scientists to track bird numbers, diversity, and habitat relationships. However, it is less able to identify reasons for changes in bird populations. The Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship program (MAPS) is complementary in that regard. It collects demographic data such as bird reproduction and survival rates. Bandelier and Mesa Verde implemented MAPS programs in 2010.

Bird communities can tell us a lot about changing environmental conditions. High on the food chain, and sensitive to climate and habitat changes, birds are monitored on the Southern Colorado Plateau as indicators of riparian and upland ecosystem health.

Many national parks in the Southern Colorado Plateau region contain large areas of wilderness, where dark night skies and natural soundscapes are important human values. Dark night skies, which depend upon the visibility of stars and other natural components, are diminishing resources in several park units because of anthropogenic activities. Natural soundscapes—that is, the natural sounds of wildlands—are degraded by sounds caused by humans or human technology.

Vegetation and soils are the foundation upon which all terrestrial ecosystems are built. Soils provide the medium for the storage and delivery of water and nutrients to plants, which in turn provide animal populations with both habitat and food.