Monitoring ecological restorations

Monitoring is necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of restoration actions. Monitoring is systematically collecting data to determine whether a site is responding in a positive way to the restoration actions.

For every restoration project, there are many more things that could be monitored than there are time and resources, so this course considers how to design an efficient and effective monitoring program that yields information helpful for ongoing restoration management decisions and problem-solving.

This course will focus on how to develop project-specific monitoring protocols that take into account site and landscape conditions, restoration goals, and selected methods.

Topics

• Select parameters for monitoring.
• Develop monitoring protocols.
• Implement monitoring protocols and quality control procedures.
• Effectively summarize data in graphs and tables.
• Analyze monitoring data to make practical decisions.
• Create and maintain records needed for ongoing restoration decision making.

This course is part of a certificate program. 

Prerequisite: Site assessment and setting restoration goals.

View other courses in the Ecological Restoration Online series