United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory
Las Vegas NV 89193
Research and Development
EPA/600/S4-91/018 October 1992
Project Summary
Arid Ecosystems Strategic
Monitoring Plan,1991,
Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP)
Bill Kepner, Bruce Jones, Susan Franson, Carl Fox, Chris Elvidge,
Virginia Enos, Janet Jackson, Michael Meyer, David Mouat, Martin Rose,
Carol Thompson, Bob Breckinridge, John Baker, and John Flueck
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) at the recommendation
of their Science Advisory Board initi-
ated in 1988 the Environmental Moni-
toring and Assessment Program
(EMAP). This program was initiated as
part of the EPA Office of Research and
Development (ORD) to monitor the sta-
tus and assess trends in the condition
of the nation's ecological resources.
Information obtained from EMAP will
assist in evaluating current environmen-
tal policies and identify emerging envi-
ronmental problems before they
become widespread or irreversible.
EMAP is organized into four major
elements: resource monitoring, integra-
tion, coordination, and developmental
research. Resource monitoring focuses
on the collection and interpretation of
field data on the ecological condition
of 8 resource categories: agroecosys-
tems, arid ecosystems, forests, estuar-
ies, great lakes, coastal waters, surface
waters, and wetlands. Integration ac-
tivities are designed to facilitate the
acquisition, management, and interpre-
tation of monitoring data. Coordination
involves ecological indicator selection,
testing, and evaluation; monitoring net-
work design and statistical analysis;
logistics; and quality assurance. De-
velopmental research focuses on im-
proving scientific understanding
through research programs including
environmental statistics, ecological in-
dicators, landscape ecology, and eco-
logical risk characterization.
This document describes a strategy
lor establishing an integrated environ-
mental monitoring and assessment pro-
gram for arid ecosystems in the United
States. The EMAP Arid Ecosystems
(EMAP-Arid) Strategic Plan is designed
as a "living" document responsive to
changes in the state of knowledge con-
cerning arid ecosystems. The strategy
is being developed in cooperation with
all elements of EMAP as well as with
key natural resource management agen-
cies and institutions with responsibili-
ties or expertise in arid ecosystems.
The success of EMAP-Arid will depend
on the integration and coordination
among these arid ecosystem groups.
This Project Summary was devel-
oped by EPA's Environmental Monitor-
ing Systems Laboratory, Las Vegas, NV,
to announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
EMAP-Arid Strategic Plan
Successful development of an environ-
mental monitoring and assessment pro-
gram strategy requires a clear definition of
the resources and issues of concern, es-
tablishment of goals and objectives, and
formulation of a conceptual approach. This
Strategic Plan addresses these three ele-
ments in order to move toward full imple-
mentation of EMAP in arid ecosystems.
Arid Ecosystems—Definition
The EMAP-Arid resource group is re-
sponsible for perhaps the widest diversity
of ecological resources within EMAP. Arid
ecosystems are defined in EMAP as:
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Terrestrial systems character-
ized by a climatic regime where
potential evaporation exceeds
precipitation, annual precipitation
ranges from < 5 cm to 60 cm,
and daily and seasonal tempera-
tures range from -40 °C to 50 °C.
The vegetation in arid ecosys-
tems is dominated by woody pe-
rennials or graminoids with a low
form physiognomy including
drought resistant trees in open
canopies. Arid ecosystems also
include associated riparian areas
occurring with the arid zone. Irri-
gated lands are not considered
part of EMAP arid ecosystems
even though they occur in the
same climatic region.
This definition is designed to include
the arid and semi-arid ecosystem resource
classes considered important to EMAP. It
also attempts to take into account bound-
aries (ecotones) between resource classes
that may be important in monitoring envi-
ronmental change.
Arid Ecosystems—Issues
Arid and semi-arid ecosystems (referred
to simply as arid ecosystems in this docu-
ment) occur on most continents of the
earth and comprise about one third of the
land surface area. In the United States,
arid ecosystems as defined by EMAP com-
prise nearly 40 percent of the land sur-
face area and are important centers of
commerce and human populations. Major
environmental issues facing arid ecosys-
tems include: grazing, biodiversity, deser-
tification, water resources, air quality, and
global change. Much of the concern over
these issues stems from the tremendous
increase in man's activity in arid regions
of the United States over the last 40 years.
While historically arid lands have been
used by relatively small numbers of people,
recent population explosions in conjunc-
tion with development practices have pre-
cipitated a rapid degradation in the
resources of arid ecosystems. Observed
deterioration in air quality, increasing de-
mands and subsequent shortages of
readily available water, and the loss of
critical wildlife habitat can be linked to
recent increases in human populations.
With the prospect of global climate change,
the recognized sensitivity of arid ecosys-
tems to climate, and increasing evidence
that arid ecosystems are intricately linked
to and affect all other ecosystems, arid
ecosystems can no longer be considered
remote places of little value.
Goals and Objectives
The EMAP-Arid resource group has de-
veloped an overall goal in concert with the
goals and objectives of EMAP. The over-
all EMAP-Arid goal is to "Provide an unbi-
ased estimate with known confidence of
the current and changing conditions of
ecological resources in arid ecosystems
at the regional and national level." Spe-
cific objectives EMAP-Arid must meet to
achieve this goal are to:
• Measure the status, evaluate trends,
and estimate the extent of arid eco-
systems using synoptic, retrospective,
and sample-based methodologies.
• Determine the spatial and temporal
correlation between stressor(s) (e.g.,
pollutants) and ecological condition
and trends.
• Provide information to decision and
policy makers and management, and
regulatory and research agencies and
institutes that can be utilized for com-
prehensive regional planning.
• Develop a regional interagency com-
munication and data transfer network.
The EMAP-Arid resource group has
also established 5- and 10-year goals.
The 5-year goal is to establish baseline
conditions, develop a management struc-
ture and procedures, secure interagency
commitments, and assess the ability of
EMAP-Arid to integrate information to de-
termine regional ecological condition. The
10 year goal is to determine regional trends
in the condition and extent of selected
arid ecosystem resources and develop test
scenarios to determine causes of regional
alteration, degradation, or enhancement.
Achieving these goals will depend on the
success of pilot and demonstration stud-
ies, development of interagency agree-
ments, program integration, and the
availability of funding for monitoring and
research activities.
Conceptual Approach
EMAP-Arid is taking a holistic, ecologi-
cal approach in the development of a strat-
egy for monitoring and assessing the
condition of arid ecosystems. Major com-
ponents of the approach include the de-
velopment of an overall strategy,
formulation of a network design, identifi-
cation of candidate indicators, and initia-
tion of other EMAP coordination and
integration activities.
Overall Strategy
The overall EMAP-Arid strategy is to
identify environmental issues and ecologi-
cal endpoints, measure and integrate indi-
cators of ecological condition, and evaluate
spatial and temporal variablity to deter-
mine the status and evaluate trends in the
condition of arid ecosystems. An impor-
tant concept behind the strategy is the
integration of synoptic (complete landscape
coverage), sample-based, and retrospec-
tive indicator data with stressor informa-
tion (e.g., climate and air quality).
Combining these four indicator types pro-
vides a mechanism for characterizing arid
ecosystem health, condition, and vigor over
ecologically appropriate spatial and tem-
poral scales. This approach also provides
the ability to evaluate correlative relation-
ships between stressor and ecological con-
dition and enhance the identification of
existing and potential environmental prob-
lems.
Network Design
Three classes or "population" types have
been identified for arid ecosystems and
form the basis for the development of
monitoring network designs for arid eco-
systems. These design classes include
(1) discrete resources; (2) elongated re-
sources; and (3) extensive resources. Dis-
crete resources are well defined and often
are rare populations that require special
attention because of their social and eco-
logical value. For these resources the
monitoring design would include either a
systematic sample from a list frame or a
probability-based sample from the EMAP
base grid (12,600 points systematically
placed across the U.S.). Elongated re-
sources occur spatially in linear form (e.g.,
riparian communities along streams). Spe-
cial care must be exercised to capture
these resources in order to estimate their
extent, distribution, and condition with the
desired precision. Map frames, list frames,
or conditional population frames con-
structed from prior information are likely to
be used for elongated or linear resource
monitoring. Extensive resources occur over
broad areas (e.g., grassland, scrubland,
and desertscrub formations). The resource
map developed by Brown and Lowe will
be used to define these resources and
the EMAP point grid will be overlayed on
the resource map to produce a probabil-
ity-based sample. Approximately 50 to 100
units (e.g., 40-km2 hexagons) will be
sampled over a complete field cycle. Other
designs will be considered as resources
are identified and the availability and ap-
propriateness of existing data evaluated.
EMAP-Arid will integrate, to the extent pos-
sible, with other monitoring networks and
research sites in order to scientifically and
cost-effectively develop a comprehensive
environmental monitoring and assessment
program for arid ecosystems.
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Indicators
Identification and development of indi-
cators for EMAP-Arid is based on linking
environmental issues, ecological endpoints
(i.e., sustainability, biodiversity, and aes-
thetics), and conceptual models. The indi-
cators identified fall into three main
groups—synoptic, sample-based, and ret-
rospective. Candidate indicators currently
considered have been further grouped and
address vegetation biomass, water bal-
ance, landscape pattern, fire, retrospec-
tive analyses, wildlife habitat, or very
specific issues (i.e., "canary sites"). These
indicators generally measure primary pro-
ductivity, nutrient cycling, species diver-
sity, system stability, prevalence of
disease, structure, and the occurrence of
contaminants. The current, relatively long
list of indicators will be reduced after be-
ing evaluated in pilot and demonstration
studies. A list of "core indicators" will evolve
and ecological indices (i.e., combined in-
dicators) developed prior to full implemen-
tation of the program.
Other Coordination and
Integration Activities
Other coordination and integration ac-
tivities will be a critical part of EMAP-Arid.
These include (1) assessment of existing
data, (2) logistics, (3) analytical consider-
ations and measurement techniques, (4)
quality assurance, (5) information man-
agement, (6) data analysis, (7) integra-
tion, and (8) development of EMAP-Arid
outputs. Many of these activities will be
similar to those developed and imple-
mented in other EMAP documents (i.e.,
quality assurance, information manage-
ment, program outputs). Others (i.e., lo-
gistics, analytical considerations, data
analysis) are somewhat premature rela-
tive to their specific development for
EMAP-Arid. However, assessment of ex-
isting data and integration are particularly
important to the EMAP-Arid strategic plan.
Evaluation of Existing Data
Maximizing the use of existing data,
monitoring networks, and research sites is
extremely important to the development
of EMAP-Arid. A preliminary evaluation of
existing information reveals that data which
may be important to monitoring arid eco-
systems are available from nearly every
Federal agency (i.e., EPA, BLM, USGS,
NOAA, USFWS, NPS, USFS, NASA, DOE,
DOD, SCS, NSF) that interacts with natu-
ral resources. While these data bases have
been identified, the challenge for EMAP-
Arid lies in evaluating the appropriateness
and integrating the information into the
monitoring and assessment program.
Integration
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing
EMAP-Arid is integration. Three levels of
integration have been identified—policy,
program, and technical. Policy integration
is the process of evaluating and coordi-
nating the needs of EMAP-Arid clients and
constituencies and ensuring that those
collective needs are addressed by the
EMAP-Arid components. Identification of
users, development of appropriate con-
tacts, inclusion of constituent groups in all
steps of program development are part of
the EMAP-Arid strategic plan. Program
integration refers to the initiation and imple-
mentation of an efficient national monitor-
ing program. Coordination of EMAP-Arid
with ongoing monitoring programs (e.g.,
BLM) will avoid duplication, improve effi-
ciency, and enhance the significance of
the information collected in monitoring.
Memoranda of understanding and coop-
erative agreements will be likely vehicles
to help achieve this type of integration.
Technical integration involves selecting,
analyzing, and evaluating data in order to
transmit the information into an environ-
mental policy framework. Determining as-
sociations between stressors and
ecological condition on a regional and na-
tional scale is an important component of
environmental monitoring and protection.
The potential for integration in EMAP is
almost endless. The EMAP-Arid resource
group considers this task absolutely criti-
cal to its success and will devote consid-
erable time and effort to achieving
maximum integration at all three levels.
EMAP-Arid Implementation
Implementation of EMAP-Arid will fol-
low an extensive review of the strategic
plan and completion of exploratory stud-
ies (pilot and demonstration projects) in
each major resource formation (i.e., ripar-
ian, grassland, desertscrub, woodland,
scrubland, and tundra). Several important
design, indicator, and logistical issues need
to be evaluated, field tested, and resolved
before a regional sampling design(s) is
selected and full implementation begins.
Evaluation of the ability of EMAP-Arid stud-
ies to detect change will be critical to the
implementation schedule. EMAP-Arid
implementation and the steps leading to
full implementation are viewed as a dy-
namic process which is sensitive and flex-
ible to advances in our understanding of
monitoring and assessing arid ecosystem
condition.
The information in this document has
been funded wholly or in part by the United
States Environmental Protection Agency
under Cooperative Agreement CR-816385-
01-0 with the Desert Research Institute of
the University of Nevada Systems, Reno,
NV; Interagency Agreement DW 89934398
with the U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho
Operations Office, Idaho National Engi-
neering Laboratory; Contract 68-CO-0049
to Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Com-
pany; and Cooperative Agreement CR-
814701 with the Environmental Research
Center of the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas. It has been subjected to the
Agency's peer and administrative review,
and it has been approved for publication
as an EPA document.
Mention of trade names or commercial
productrs does not constitute endorsement
or recommendation for use.
•U.S. Government Printing Office: 1992— 648-080/60145
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The EPA authors, Bill Kepner, Bruce Jones, and Susan Franson are with the
Environmental Mentoring Systems Laboratory, Las Vegas, NV89193-3478. Carl
Fox, Chris Elvidge, Virginia Enos, Janet Jackson, Michael Meyer, David Mouat,
Martin Rose, and Carol Thompson are with the Desert Research Institute, Reno,
NV 89506. Bob Breckinridge is with the Idaho National Engineering Lab, Idaho
Falls, ID 83415-2213. John Baker is with Lockheed Engineering and Sciences
Company, Las Vegas, NV89119. John Flu&ckis with the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas, NV 89154.
William G. Kepner is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Arid Ecosystems Strategic Monitoring Plan, 1991,
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP)," (Order No.
PB92-93-100139/AS; Cost: $35.00; subject to change) will be available only
from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Environmental Montoring Systems Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Center for Environmental Research Information
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Official Business
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EPA
PERMIT No. G-35
EPA/600/S4-91/018
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