Protocol for Long-Term Monitoring of Mountain Lakes in the North Coast and Cascades Network Version July 9, 2012 Natural Resource Report.

摘要

This protocol describes the rationale, objectives, sampling design, field and laboratory methods, data analysis and data management procedures for long-term monitoring of mountain lakes in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN). Lake monitoring will occur at three NCCN parks including Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA), and Olympic National Park (OLYM). This prototol utilizes a cost efficient comprehensive approach, applying multiple indicators representing key physical, chemical, and biological attributes (Vital Signs) which will serve to address current management issues as well as future emerging issues at park-wide and region-wide scales. Mountain lakes and ponds are essential park ecosystems in the NCCN, both culturally and ecologically. The NCCN contains over 1,200 mountain lakes and ponds. These waters are enormously popular visitor destinations due to their aesthetic and natural characteristics. Mountain lakes are tightly linked to their neighboring terrestrial environments, as critical breeding sites for many amphibian and insect species, and as both watering holes and feeding grounds for park wildlife. These highly sensitive ecosystems have in-lake physical, chemical, and biological processes that respond to and integrate a suite of key environmental stressors. Mountain lakes function as 'Petri dishes in the sky,' integrating the effects of global climate change, atmospheric deposition, visitor impacts, amphibian declines, and exotic species introductions.