The overall goal of the SOPN landbird monitoring program was to report biologically significant changes in population parameters over report time. Three primary monitoring objectives that are complementary and together provide a comprehensive assessment of changing bird populations and communities include occupancy, bird species richness and composition, and density.

The overall goal of the SOPN landbird monitoring program is to detect biologically significant changes in population parameters over time. This collaborative program is intended to maximize the strength of inferences within the context of finite resources. Three primary monitoring objectives include occupancy, bird species richness and composition, and density.

In 2012, the SOPN conducted a fourth season of exotic-plant monitoring to continue to test the methods and results of the network's proposed Exotic Plant Monitoring Protocol. A total of 824 vector blocks were sampled along high-invasion-probability vectors in SOPN parks. Results of the 2012 sampling for each park are presented in this report.

The overall goal of the SOPN landbird monitoring program is to detect biologically significant changes in population parameters over time. This collaborative program is intended to maximize the strength of inferences within the context of finite resources. Three primary monitoring objectives include occupancy, bird species richness and composition, and density.

In 2011, the SOPN conducted a third season of exotic-plant monitoring to continue to test the methods and results of the network's proposed Exotic Plant Monitoring Protocol. A total of 886 vector blocks were sampled along high-invasion-probability vectors (primary units) in SOPN parks. These As part of the SOPN grassland and fire monitoring effort, 480 plots on 96 transects in areas not considered high-invasion probability (secondary units) were also sampled. Results of the 2011 sampling for each park are presented in this report.

During 2010, a crew funded by both the I&M and Fire programs worked on a pilot of the collaborative field efforts. In addition to surveying standard Fire Program shrub transects and conducting biomass sampling (USDI National Park Service 2003), the crew fielded by the Southern Plains Fire Group sampled species composition and abundance using methods employed by the Southern Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network. Conditions were such in 2011 that each program had to field a monitoring team, but each team followed the integrated protocol and data was pooled for analysis. A total of 109 permanent transects were monitored across the Southern Plains in 2010, while 96 transects were sampled in 2011. The results presented in this two-year report represent two field seasons with very different growing conditions.

The goal of SOPN's data management program is to maintain, in perpetuity, the data and derived information from the network's resource inventory and monitoring program. The purpose of this document is to describe at a the objectives, policies, and guidelines that will ensure the highest standards for data acquired or managed by the network. These standards include: accuracy, security, longevity, and usability.