EDITORIAL: ECOLOGICAL MONITORING FOR GLOBAL CHANGE
In response to growing scientific and public concern about global change, new monitoring programs are being planned and developed for future implementation and these are expected to have a strong focus on fundamental ecosystem parameters to assess long-term trends. As these programs evolve, it is important that ideas and information be exchanged among federal agencies, researchers, and the general scientific community. To facilitate this type of technical interchange, a symposium on environmental monitoring was held as part of the 74th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America which was convened at the University of Toronto from August 6-10, 1989; Global Change was the official theme of this annual meeting. The symposium was entitled 'Long-Term Ecological Monitoring for Global Change' and a number of the papers are published here as part of this special issue of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. The specific objectives of the symposium were: (1) to review selected ongoing ecological and pollutant monitoring activities that may support global change studies, (2) to present monitoring ideas and research projects (and data sets) relevant to long term global trend analysis, and (3) to identify future research directions for ecosystem monitoring within a global change program. Since long-term ecological monitoring is expected to be a key component of an overall program on global change, the symposium provided an opportunity to compare various approaches to monitoring design and implementation. Papers were presented by scientists from several U.S. federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy. The symposium highlighted the considerable amount of ongoing ecological monitoring that has been conducted at a range of sites across the country. It was clear from the symposium that there is a need to continue to develop interactions among the various networks and to include international participation. It was also apparent that promising areas for future collaborative efforts might include standardization of methods and databases and cross-site data analysis and synthesis.
Center for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Idaho National Engineering Laboratory EG&G Idaho, Inc., P.O. Box 1625 Idaho Falls, ID, U.S.A.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 17: l, 1991.
D. A. BRUNS
In response to growing scientific and public concern about global change, new monitoring programs are being planned and developed for future implementation and these are expected to have a strong focus on fundamental ecosystem parameters to assess long-term trends. As these programs evolve, it is important that ideas and information be exchanged among federal agencies, researchers, and the general scientific community. To facilitate this type of technical interchange, a symposium on environmental monitoring was held as part of the 74th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America which was convened at the University of Toronto from August 6-10, 1989; Global Change was the official theme of this annual meeting. The symposium was entitled 'Long-Term Ecological Monitoring for Global Change' and a number of the papers are published here as part of this special issue of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. The specific objectives of the symposium were: (1) to review selected ongoing ecological and pollutant monitoring activities that may support global change studies, (2) to present monitoring ideas and research projects (and data sets) relevant to long term global trend analysis, and (3) to identify future research directions for ecosystem monitoring within a global change program. Since long-term ecological monitoring is expected to be a key component of an overall program on global change, the symposium provided an opportunity to compare various approaches to monitoring design and implementation. Papers were presented by scientists from several U.S. federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy. The symposium highlighted the considerable amount of ongoing ecological monitoring that has been conducted at a range of sites across the country. It was clear from the symposium that there is a need to continue to develop interactions among the various networks and to include international participation. It was also apparent that promising areas for future collaborative efforts might include standardization of methods and databases and cross-site data analysis and synthesis.
Center for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Idaho National Engineering Laboratory EG&G Idaho, Inc., P.O. Box 1625 Idaho Falls, ID, U.S.A.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 17: l, 1991.
D. A. BRUNS
