Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program: EMAP-Arid Colorado Plateau PilotStudy, 1992. Implementation Plan

摘要

The 1992 Colorado Plateau Indicator Pilot Study, the first field activity for theEMAP-Arid group, is designed to evaluate several indicators of arid ecosystem condition for continued development and implementation for monitoring. This Implementation Plan describes the conceptual approach for the pilot study; questions that will be addressed in the study; the rationale and process that led to the choice of a portion of the Colorado Plateau for the study site; and the rational and process for selection of the indicators to be tested. The overall EMAP-Arid design is presented along with the specifics for the pilot study and the sampling plot designs. Logistics, quality assurance, information management and GIS, and analysis and reporting of the pilot study results also are addressed. The bulk of the implementation plan describes the indicators that are to be evaluated in the pilot study: vegetation composition, structure, and abundance; soil properties including erosion potential; and spectral properties of vegetation and soils from both on-ground and remote sensors. An appendix describes retrospective and landscape indicators that will be further developed by EMAP-Arid in the future.