Monitoring and Park Management

Ecological monitoring and other science in the National Park Service contributes to evidence-based decision making for park management.

Ecological monitoring and evidence-based decision making in America's national parks

Abstract

In this Special Feature of Ecosphere, we celebrate 100 years of National Park Service science by highlighting contributions from the agency's Inventory and Monitoring Division. This broad body of work coalesces into several themes, including the role of protected areas in understanding rapid global change and the growing interest in place-based ecological insights that contextualize scientific information from protected areas across broader scales. Finally, we illustrate progress on the long-sought integration of science into the resource management strategies implemented within “America's Best Idea,” now more important than ever given the many challenges our nation's parks face.

Rodhouse, T. J., C. J. Sergeant, and E. W. Schweiger. 2016. Ecological monitoring and evidence-based decision-making in America's National Parks: highlights of the Special Feature. Ecosphere 7(11):e01608.