Guidelines for long-term monitoring protocols

Abstract

Monitoring protocols are detailed study plans that explain how data are to be collected, managed, analyzed, and reported, and are a key component of quality assurance for nat- ural resource monitoring programs. Protocols are necessary to ensure that changes detected by monitoring actually are occurring in nature and not simply a result of meas- urements taken by different people or in slightly different ways. We developed and pres- ent here guidelines for the recommended content and format of monitoring protocols. The National Park Service and United States Geological Survey have adopted these guide- lines to assist scientists developing protocols for more than 270 national park units.