National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Program Center Long-term Monitoring Protocol for Rocky Intertidal Communities of Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore, California Version 1.0 Natural Resource Report NPS/SFAN/NRR—2011/348 ON THE COVER Dave Press counting invertebrates at Slide Ranch, Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Photograph by: Marcus Koenen Long-term Monitoring Protocol for Rocky Intertidal Communities of Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore, California Version 1.0 Natural Resource Report NPS/SFAN/NRR—2011/348 Karah Ammann1 Peter Raimondi1 Ben Becker2 Dale Roberts3 Darren Fong4 Dave Press5 Marcus Koenen5 1Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology 4Golden Gate National Recreation Area Center for Ocean Health/Long Marine Lab National Park Service University of California Building 1061, Fort Cronkhite Santa Cruz, CA, 95060 Sausalito, California 94903 2Pacific Coast Science and Learning Center 5Inventory and Monitoring Program National Park Service National Park Service Point Reyes National Seashore San Francisco Bay Area I&M Network One Bear Valley Road Building 1063, Fort Cronkhite Point Reyes Station, California 94956 Sausalito, California 94903 3Inventory and Monitoring Program National Park Service Point Reyes National Seashore One Bear Valley Road Point Reyes Station, California 94956 April 2011 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Program Center Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Program Center publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received formal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data, and whose background and expertise put them on par technically and scientifically with the authors of the information. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This report is available from the San Francisco Area Network Inventory and Monitoring website (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/sfan/) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). Please cite this publication as: Ammann, K., P. Raimondi, B. Becker, D. Roberts, D. Fong, D. Press, and M. Koenen. 2011. Long-term monitoring protocol for rocky intertidal communities of Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore, California. Natural Resource Report NPS/SFAN/NRR—2011/348. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 641/107315, 612/107315, April 2011 ii Protocol Narrative Version 1.0 Revision History Log Previous Revision Author Changes Reason for Change New Version Date Made Version iii Contents Page Protocol Narrative .......................................................................................................................... iii Figures............................................................................................................................................ ix Tables ............................................................................................................................................. ix Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... ix Standard Operating Procedures...................................................................................................... xi Standard Operating Procedures (continued) ................................................................................. xii Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xiv 1 - Background and Objectives ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Rationale for Selecting this Resource to Monitor .............................................................. 2 1.3 Linking Monitoring with Management ............................................................................. 2 1.4 History of Rocky Intertidal Monitoring in SFAN ............................................................. 5 1.5 Measurable Objectives ....................................................................................................... 5 1.5.1 Monitoring Objectives ............................................................................................... 5 1.5.2 Measurement and Analysis Objectives ...................................................................... 6 1.5.3 Scope of Management Options .................................................................................. 6 2 - Sampling Design........................................................................................................................ 7 2.1 Rationale for Selecting this Sampling Design over Others ............................................... 7 2.2 Site Selection ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Criteria for Site Selection .......................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Procedures for Selecting Site Locations .................................................................. 10 2.2.3 Number and Location of Sites .................................................................................. 10 v 2.3 Sampling Frequency and Replication .............................................................................. 12 2.4 Timing of Field Sampling ................................................................................................ 12 2.5 Level of Change that can be Detected for Amount/Type of Sampling ........................... 13 3 - Field Methods .......................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Field Season Preparations and Equipment Setup ............................................................ 15 3.2 Sequence of Events during Field Season ......................................................................... 15 3.3 Details of Taking Measurements with Field Forms ........................................................ 15 3.4 Post-collecting Processing ............................................................................................... 17 3.5 End-of-season Procedures ............................................................................................... 18 4 - Data Handling, Analysis, and Reporting .......................................................................... 19 4.1 Overview of Database Design ......................................................................................... 19 4.2 Data Entry, Verification, and Editing .............................................................................. 19 4.3 Annual Progress Report ................................................................................................... 19 4.4 Routine Data Summaries and Statistical Analysis to Detect Change .............................. 20 4.5 Recommended Reporting Schedule ................................................................................. 20 4.6 Recommended Report Format ......................................................................................... 20 4.7 Recommended Methods for Long-term Trend Analysis ................................................. 21 4.8 Other Information Reporting Mechanisms ...................................................................... 21 4.9 Data Archival Procedures ................................................................................................ 21 5 - Personnel Requirements and Training ..................................................................................... 23 5.1 Roles and Responsibilities ............................................................................................... 23 5.2 Qualifications ................................................................................................................... 23 5.3 Training Procedures ........................................................................................................