Biodiversity discovery: a foundation for resource protection and stewardship

National Park Service, Biological Resources Management Division

The National Park Service is charged with protecting the diversity of living organisms(i.e., biodiversity) found within its lands. Yet, as the National Park Service nears thebeginning of its second century, estimates indicate that as many as 80–90 percent ofthe species in parks are undiscovered. This gap in knowledge makes it impossible toprotect living resources from emerging threats—such as climate change, invasive plants and animals, disease, and human population pressures—or to keep ecosystems intact. To help address this gap, the National Park Service is undertaking a new effort, Biodiversity Discovery, to both document the diversity of life in parks and ensure the future of park scientific study byengaging the next generation of scientists, educators, and park supporters.The first Biodiversity Discovery effort began as the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory in theGreat Smoky Mountains in 1998. Since then, many parks have begun their own Biodiversity Discovery activities; as of 2010, more than 40 national park units had planned or conducted them. Parks often use different names for their Biodiversity Discovery activities, but they share several common goals: (1) to gain knowledge about little-known groups such as insects, fungi, bacteria, and microscopic life—organisms that are key to ecosystem integrity and also to responsible park management; (2) to engage the public, young and old, and create a cadre of park supporters who believe science is relevant; and (3) to present biodiversity information to park managers in an organized way that reveals biological patterns at a broader regional, or even national, scale.The benefits of Biodiversity Discovery are multiplicative across different areas:● Benefits to park management include the ability to make sound, long-term decisions with increased species knowledge and support from partnerships built through Biodiversity Discovery. Also, Biodiversity Discovery will support existing National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Networks, Research Learning Centers, and Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units. ● Benefits to science include the discovery of species—sometimes thousands—that are new to the park or even to science. Some such species may reveal key shifts in park ecosystems as climate change, invasive species, and other threats occur.● Benefits to education include being able to provide hands-on, experiential learning environments that improve scientific literacy by making classroom lessons come alive,and that inspire environmental awareness that stiudents may not gain anywhere else.● Benefits to society include increased awareness of the local ecosystem in which participants live and a re-engaged sense of relevancy to science and stewardship. With the diverse benefits of Biodiversity Discovery activities, more parks across the country are incorporating them as key parts of their resource management, science, and education programs. However, parks do not currently have national coordination, funding, or support for these efforts, which often puts small or culturally based parks at a disadvantage. Faced with these challenges, parks are proposing a nationally coordinated effort to help initiate and continue Biodiversity Discovery. Areas of coordination would include sharing data and taxonomicexpertise, developing a clearinghouse of information for planning events, and using the information obtained to inform sound management decisions. This national umbrella of support would encourage cooperation while keeping intact the grassroots initiative that has proven so successful.Fulfilling the conservation mission of the National Park Service in the face of new threats requires that the Service embrace new approaches to science. Biodiversity Discovery activities are already successful scientific tools at many parks and have emerged as vital efforts to ensure preservation of our living resources by combining sound science and public passion.

Biodiversity discovery: a foundation for resource protection and stewardship

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