The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking the assistance of principal investigator(s) for a project
involving the analysis of long-term ecological monitoring data to provide trends in resource condition
and to address inter-disciplinary questions that provide insight on the health of the Park’s ecosystems.
This project requires a principal investigator with experience in quantitative ecological analysis
of terrestrial and/or aquatic systems.
ELIGIBILITY:
This opportunity is open to non-federal members of the CESU National Network. Information on the
CESU National Network can be accessed at htps://www.cesu.org.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is world-renowned for its biodiversity, abundant wildlife, cultural
resources, scenic vistas, and a wide variety of outdoor recreational opportunities. It has been recognized
internationally as both an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. The
Superintendent and park management team depend on scientific research and monitoring to inform
management decisions.
The National Park Service’s (NPS) long-term ecological monitoring program, known as "Vital Signs
Monitoring,” was designed to provide the minimum infrastructure needed to track the overall condition
of natural resources in parks and to provide early warning of situations that require intervention. Park
vital signs are a subset of physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems
that are selected to represent the overall health or condition of park resources, effects of stressors, or
elements that have important human values (NPS 2014). The Smokies ecological monitoring program
began in the early 1990s and re-focused in 2011 toward critical natural resource issues, or Vital Signs,
which reflect a new understanding of natural ecological processes and roles of an increased number of
interacting stressors.
Deadline: May 31 2024, 5:00pm ET
Attached Files:
Application and Details Dataset Summary