Monitoring strategies for wildlife in forests

Monitoring strategies for wildlife in forests

After a management strategy is chosen, then what? How can you tell if your wildlife goals are being met?

Monitoring The collection of information to determine the occurrence, size, direction and importance of changes in attributes or indicators over time

Revise management plan Reevaluate objectives and approach Implementation of plan and alternatives Analysis and interpretation Monitoring and collection of data

Establishing a monitoring program Step 1: Establishing your monitoring goals

Implementation monitoring – Monitoring to evaluate if the management activities were instituted in the manner in which they were proposed. Effectiveness monitoring – Monitoring to assess if the effects desired from a particular management approach are in fact being achieved. Validation monitoring – Monitoring to assess if the assumptions underlying the management approach used sound.

A typical goal for wildlife monitoring: To determine changes in the abundance or demographics of wildlife populations over time.

Establishing a monitoring program Step 1: Establishing your monitoring goals Step 2: Develop a monitoring strategy

3 Basic Strategies (may be used separately or together) Habitat-based monitoring Monitoring surrogate species Monitoring target species

Habitat-based monitoring Monitoring to determine presence or quality of habitat for a species or group of species, but that does not directly measure response of any wildlife species.

Structure-based biodiversity indicators (Lindenmeyer et al. 2000, Conservation Biology 14: 941-950) Stand complexity Connectivity Landscape heterogeneity An approach to monitor “ecological sustainability in managed forests”

Structure-based biodiversity indicators (Lindenmeyer et al. 2000, Conservation Biology 14: 941-950) Strength: Provides a measure of conservation“coarse filter” Weakness: Does not measure response of any wildlife species directly

Habitat-based monitoring Key assumption: The relationship between the species of interest and the monitored variable is so strong that species response is predictable given information about the variable monitored.

Habitat-based monitoring The concept of necessary and sufficient To use habitat-based monitoring, the monitored habitat component must be “necessary” for the species, and “sufficient” to predict the species presence whenever the component is present Potential application Some cavity-nesting birds

Monitoring surrogate species Surrogate species or group: A species or group of species selected for monitoring because information about the abundance, viability, or trends of that species or group provides information about a different or broader group of species, or about other aspects of the ecology of the system that are of interest. “Indicator species” is often sometimes synonymous with surrogate species

Monitoring surrogate species Strength: Simple and efficient Weakness: Often relationship between a surrogate species and the species, group, or attribute that it is suppose to indicate is weak or inadequately documented.

Monitoring target species Target species or group: A species or group of species selected for monitoring because information about the abundance, viability, or trends of that species or group is of direct interest because of concerns pertaining specifically to that species or group.

Monitoring target species Strength: Clear relationship between monitoring data and species of interest Weaknesses: Many species often of interest Can be expensive

Revise management plan Reevaluate objectives and approach Implementation of plan and alternatives Analysis and interpretation Monitoring and collection of data

Establishing a monitoring program Step 1: Establishing your monitoring goals Step 2: Develop a monitoring strategy Step 3: Develop a strategy for using data

Philosophy • It is critical to determine how the monitoring data • will be used BEFORE the data are collected. How can monitoring data be used to modify management plans? • If it can’t be determined how the data will be used, • they should not be collected.

Approaches to incorporating monitoring in adaptive management Triggers and thresholds – Points established in adaptive management where management activities are altered in response to information obtained; these triggers and thresholds can be based on biological, social, political, or other types of information.

High Change Threshold Moderate Change Threshold Low Change Threshold Current Condition Maximum Minimum Range of possible conditions Triggers and Thresholds

Triggers and Thresholds What constitutes meaningful thresholds? Options Absolute measure of some characteristic Value of a characteristic relative to reference site Change in a characteristic relative to pre-management conditions Change in a characteristic relative to change in a reference site

Triggers and Thresholds • Trigger values should take into account: • Conservation objectives • Need for precaution • Conservation sensitivity • Measurement sensitivity • Natural variability

High Change Threshold Moderate Change Threshold Low Change Threshold Current Condition Maximum Minimum Range of possible conditions Selection of trigger values Example 1. Low conservation priority Low level of precaution

High Change Threshold Moderate Change Threshold Low Change Threshold Current Condition Maximum Minimum Range of possible conditions Selection of trigger values Example 2. High conservation priority High level of precaution

Thomas Bayes Bayesian Decision Theory Information gathered is combined with previously gathered information to determine desired outcomes

Establishing a monitoring program Step 1: Establishing your monitoring goals Step 2: Develop a monitoring strategy Step 3: Develop a strategy for using data Step 4: Implement monitoring plan

Monitoring strategies for wildlife in forests