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Colorado Plateau Aquatic Invertebrates Monitoring Protocols

Project Chief: Anne Brasher, USGS Moab, Utah
Cooperator: NPS Inventory and Monitoring Network Program
Period of Project: May 2004 to September 2009

PROBLEM

National Park Service (NPS) units of the Northern and Southern Colorado Plateau Networks (NCPN and SCPN, respectively) have a need for long-term monitoring of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Monitoring the condition of aquatic ecosystems is a high-priority need because of the great significance of these resources to parks and because of their sensitivity to a wide range of human impacts. The need for monitoring protocols is particularly urgent due to the ubiquity of factors potentially impacting aquatic systems, including flow diversion, flow regulation, water pollution, alterations to riparian habitat, up-stream development pressures, upland / upstream land-use activities, and water-rights issues.

OBJECTIVES

(1) To evaluate the utility of aquatic macroinvertebrates as reliable indicators of aquatic ecosystem conditions in dryland systems characteristic of the Colorado Plateau, and (2) to develop and test a rigorous, well-integrated set of protocols for long-term monitoring of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities present in NCPN and SCPN units.

RELEVANCE AND BENEFITS

The NPS NCPN and SCPN are developing long-term monitoring programs to serve 16 and 19 NPS units, respectively. This study will provide new data in support of these programs. Results will assist the NPS manages water resources in the studied units. This study provides critical science support to the NPS, another Department of Interior Agency.

APPROACH

The conceptual models paper can be completed before or during the pilot monitoring time period. The protocols will be developed and revised as new information comes to light during pilot monitoring. Macroinvertebrate sampling methods will be based upon well established sampling methods currently used by the U.S. EPA, USGS NAWQA, and the environmental agencies in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

PRODUCTS

Documentation of protocol development and testing will be in at least one Journal Article. There will be a biannual progress report and information presentation. Monitoring protocols will be documented in sections of the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Network Program reports.