Life Histories and Monitoring Strategies: Some Lessons from Field Experience

摘要

Appropriately selected ecological measurements can provide economical and accurate data for long-term measurements. Two considerations are initially important: specific methods reflecting activities in the life history of target biota, and specification of the statistical population for which inferences can be made. We have found that working with common species and focusing on aggregated or colonial aspects of life histories is nearly essential for cost-effective data. Examples from forests and food webs in Washington suggest tht long-term studies will benefit from passive methods. Specification or definition of the population of interest is necessary to determine where the measurements must be made. Unfortunately, ambiguities in identifying replicates are common. Some method of locating a population of equally suitable sites from which replicates can be selected properly is needed. A procedure for selecting a suite of equally suitable sites using cluster and discriminant analyses is suggested, and illustrated to demonstrate the problems and potentials involved. 32 references. (ERA citation 08:052153)