Parks Canada

Terra Nova National Park monitors non-native mammal browse pressure on forest plant communities on transects and plots.

Late snowbeds afford critical habitat for many species of Arctic and alpine plants in Gros Morne National Park. Temperature loggers are being anchored at ground level within the perimeter of 14 late snowbeds, which allows measurement of the meltout date for that point in each snowbed each year.

The park correlates pitcher plant morpology with availability of atmospheric nitrogen, as the latter may affect pitcher-plant development.

The park monitors water quality of streams and ponds (lakes) on a triennial cycle, reporting on total organic carbon, acidity, phosphorus, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and Chlorophyll A. These metrics are compiled into a water quality index (WQI) that summarizes overall water quality.

The park is developing a protocol to monitor the extent of eelgrass beds through remote sensing.

Terra Nova National Park employs a kicknet sampling procedure to monitor the species richness and relative species abundance of stream invertebrates. Streams chosen for sampling are randomly selected within second order watersheds.

The park employs aerial surveys to map active beaver lodges/dams in Terra Nova. A selection of sites are ground-thruthed on foot or by canoe.

Terra Nova National Park monitors wetland plant richness at 30 randomly selected plots along a 80 meter transect.

This measure includes monitoring of browsing impacts of non-native mammals on populations of the balsam fir populations at 30 randomly selected plots. This measure records percent of browsing on particular firs, and collects multiple metrics, including species diversity, seral stage, etc.

Terra Nova National Park monitors intertidal invertebrate communities using a line transect and quadrat sampling method. The survey focusses on invertebrate community composition and diversity, and should detect presence of invasive marine species.

The park monitors angling stress in several ponds (lakes) in Terra Nova with Fyke nets. Angling stress is assesed against calculated values of fish biomass and fish condition (Fulton’s condition factor, K).

Terra Nova National Park employs fixed station pressure/temperature loggers to continuously monitor stream water temperatures over the entire summer at designated stream study sites.

This measure aims at monitoring forest plant community structure in Terra Nova National Park, including taxa richness, and presence of exotic species.

Terra Nova National Park monitors annual decay rate by measuring decomposition of tongue depressors buried within randomly selected Balsam Fir and Black Spruce plots.

Effort, catch, and biometric fish data are produced using the Summer Profundal Index Netting (SPIN) methodologies developed by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Monitoring is generally conducted generally on a five year cycle, with additional sampling as necessary. Data are from...

The richness of benthic macro-invertebrate species is used to monitor the overall health of stream ecosystems in Gwaii Haanas. Any shifts in community composition, initially detected as an increase or decrease in species richness, can be the result of nutrient levels, atmospheric pollutants, or...

Using permanent transects, geo indicators are tracked annually to monitor the effects of long term erosion and deposition processes and significant erosional events to ecologically sensitive sand dune ecosystems.

In partnership with ECCC, Gwaii Haanas monitors five Marbled Murrelet colonies by using a radar station located offshore. As birds fly out to the ocean at dawn, and return at dusk, the radar data is used to estimate the number of birds per hectare of suitable nesting habitat. Sampling areas focus...

Black Oystercatcher breeding success is estimated by visually surveying known breeding habitat in key areas of Gwaii Haanas. Surveys are conducted twice a year during breeding season. Black Oysercatchers are very vulnerable to disturbances, predation of eggs and young, predators, oil spills and...

The subalpine zone of Haida Gwaii occurs between an elevation of 600 to 800m. Permanent plots are monitored every 5 years to detect any changes to the structure and composition of the vegetation community on Yatza Mountain. Metrics include: canopy closure, debris classes, tree species, organic...