Ecological Processes

Primary Productivity

Primary production is the capture of energy through plants, bacteria, algae; often it is expressed as "the number of grams of carbon that is converted into gross living biomass in any area by all primary producers present".34 This measure is important as primary production provides the energy 'base' to be allocated to the higher trophic levels within an ecosystem. The method of determining the importance of primary productivity in the park is to compare the productivity of specific areas within the park to agricultural or industrial forest lands, as appropriate. This will yield a measure of the extra primary productivity provided by the protected area. It seems reasonable to use the information on the specific land types within the park (see Appendix 4) in combination with

33 Parks Canada (1994).

34 Canadian Museum of Nature (1995), p.27.

productivity numbers on a per hectare basis. The information needed to do this task would require an extensive literature review that would combine various scientific studies.

Energy Flow

Energy flow is the flow of energy through the additional producers (primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.) within the food web. This could be measured by comparing the biomass of different trophic levels within the park to other land uses. The measure should focus on a representative species in each of the trophic levels. If an ecosystem is losing integrity, there will be losses in the higher trophic levels (ie., upper level carnivores). Researchers at Gros Morne National Park are in the process of gathering information that will be useful to this particular measure of ecosystem integrity. It is important to note that any measure of energy flow may not be appropriate for a single protected area as these losses tend to be regional problems, not specific to a particular protected area.

Fixing of Nutrients

This category of ecological processes measures the amount of nutrients — calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, as well as carbon — that are fixed by the plants within the protected area. An example is the degree to which the protected area is a carbon `sink'.35 The amounts that are fixed by the different types of forest within the park can be compared to an industrial forest. Although the different forest types and areas are known for Gros Morne, an extensive literature review is required to bring together the estimated amount of nutrients fixed.

Cycling of Nutrients

35 During photosynthesis, plants intake carbon dioxide and release oxygen. At other times, the reverse is true. To the extent that more carbon fixing is done than releasing, plants are referred to as carbon sinks.

An example of a relatively simple nitrogen cycle involves: additions to soil from aerial deposition, biological fixation, and plant residues; removal from the soil through plant uptake, volatilization, denitrification, surface runoff, and leaching; and, within the soil, mineralization, nitrification and immobilization. Altered ecosystems tend to lose nutrients through leaching and surface runoff. For example, agricultural land loses nutrients through surface runoff, leaching, and removal of crops. Nutrient Tosses can be determined for the different types of land use within the park and compared to alternative land uses. Once again, with more research it is possible to determine the average amounts of nutrients lost for different types of land use.

Soil Formation

Soil formation is the process of biological activity that creates productive sons. A protected area contains natural plant coverage which leads to more efficient formation of productive soils. In this category, a comparison is made between natural and industrial forests. A suggestion is to use the maximum volume of forest which is attainable in each case. These numbers are not known by park officiais but could be secured with an extensive literature review.

5.3.1.2 Watershed Protection

In general, `natural' watersheds are less prone to erosion and floods, and are more likely to have significant groundwater recharge and higher water quality than `developed' areas such as roads, ditches, etc. In moderating the hydrological functioning of the region, protected areas provide the watershed benefits.

Groundwater Recharge

A protected area can provide a well functioning hydrological system that recharges

groundwater rather than transports water (via surface runoff) into another watershed. With information about the different types of land use within the park and annual rainfall, an estimation of the groundwater recharge can be made. This can be compared to similar measures for land adjacent to the park. For example, given an average rainfall of 1,300 mm annually, and hydrological soil type A,36 the infiltration for good forest cover will be 1,106 mm versus 584 mm for a thin stand of forest.37 For an area of 1,800 km2, there will be 939.6 billion litres more 'recharge' under good forest cover.38 While the average annual rainfall in Gros Morne National Park was not available for this version of the study, it could be easily obtained through a request to Environment Canada. As well, the distribution of specific soil types was not available. These could have been derived from published government sources, such as Agriculture Canada's soil maps. While both of these information requirements could be met with a reasonable degree of time and resources devoted to the task, within the time and resources available for this case study, it was not possible to undertake and complete this task.

Water Quality

Related to groundwater recharge, the improved infiltration provided by 'nature ecosystems allows for the filtering of water as it infiltrates through the soil in the park. It should be possible to estimate and compare as in the previous section. The amounts of pollution that can be absorbed in

36 Soils are categorized by type and the percentages of sand, silt, and clay in the soil. The different types are placed into four categories: A, B, C, and D. In general, A is the most erosive type of soil and D is the least erosive. The makeup of the soil in terms of the percentages of sand, silt and clay will also be a factor in the ability of the soil to retain moisture, allow infiltration, or contribute to runoff.

37 Using the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number approach to estimating runoff and infiltration; see Bedient and Huber (1992):128-9.

38 1,800 km2 x 106 m2/km2 x (1,106 - 584) mm x 10-3 m/mm x 103 L/m3

different soils would have to be gathered from the literature.

Erosion/Flood Control

As in the first item under watershed protection, when simulating the hydrological functioning of the park, it is possible to obtain a measure of the ability of the system to prevent disasters such as floods. With historical information on area rainfall, a frequency of flood conditions can be estimated for the park and compared to alternative land uses within the same ecoregion. Continuing with the previous example, the thin forest cover will lead to more runoff than the good forest cover;

716 mm runoff for the thin cover versus 194 mm for the good forest cover.39

5.3.1.3 Biodiversity

Biodiversity describes, in general, the richness of species and their ability for continued survival within a specific area. This relates to more than just the number of species. The measures of community structure, rare species protection, genetic conservation, and keystone species provide the basis for determining the level of biodiversity. When calculating the benefits of biodiversity, there is likely to be overlap with the existence values determined under the personal benefits category.

Community Structure

The structure of the ecosystem's `community' evolves over very long periods of time. In more stable communities, there are complex ecological functions and high species diversity. To

39 It is assumed that the rainfall that does not infiltrate into the soil will runoff. With total rainfall of 1,300 mm, runoff is (1,300-1,106) mm for good forest cover and (1,300-584) mm for thin forest cover.

measure community structure, a comparison between the park's structure (ie., abundance of species) and other land use within the same ecoregion is required. Within Gros Morne National Park, there are 23 species of mammals (see appendix 6), 176 species of birds (see appendix 7), and 11 species of fish (see appendix 8). Two amphibians have been introduced to the park, otherwise there are no herpetiles present. There are 417 species of bryophytes' and 711 vascular plants' present within the boundaries of Gros Morne National Park. Among the different species of fish listed, three types are considered hypothetical.42 Among the birds, 90 (out of 176) species are considered uncommon or rare. For mammals, 1 species (the American Marten) is listed as hypothetical and five are uncommon or rare.

Rare Species Protection

Many countries (including Canada) are dedicated to protecting rare species. Species lists can be derived for the protected area and compared to those found outside its boundaries. A list of those not appearing outside the protected area should be relatively easy to acquire. Values for rare species have been determined for their potential medicinal values. For example, the willingness to pay by pharmaceutical companies to preserve land in biodiversity `hotspots' has been determined to range from $0.02 to $2.29 (US) per hectare (Simpson 1997:14). Note that some of the value to society of preserving species will likely already have been incorporated by individuals in the personal passive uses such as existence value. Within this category of biodiversity we are interested in knowing the relative abundance of species found in Gros Morne National Park. This type of monitoring project has been proposed for the park, and is a couple of years down the road.

4° Mosses and liverworts.

41 Trees, flowers and ferns.

42 According to the park ecologist, hypothetical refers to the unconfirmed sighting of the species.

It should be noted that there are at least four endangered species found within or are visitors to Gros Morne National Park. These are: the Harlequin Duck, the American Marten (Newfoundland subspecies), the Peregrine Falcon and the Piping Ployer. In addition, the Caspian Tern is considered to be vulnerable. As well, the Timber Wolf, now extinct, was a resident of the Gros Morne National Park. The preservation of these endangered species represents benefits that ought to be incorporated into any assessment of the benefits of that Gros Morne National Park serves as a protected area. The fact that the Timber Wolf is now extinct drives home the importance of the function that Gros Morne National Park performs in protecting endangered species.

As indicated through discussion with the park biologist, there are a number of threatened species within the park boundaries. Unfortunately, no real work has been done providing a comprehensive study of which species fall into this category. At this stage it is not possible to assess the magnitude of the benefits associated with the protection of the these threatened species. Even so, it seems that this is one area where Gros Morne National Park might provide significant benefits as a protected area.

Genetic Conservation

Genetic conservation deals with the protection of complexity within a species over the long term. This complexity is a prerequisite to natural evolution and provides the species with the ability to withstand many `events' such as new diseases. Consider, for example, the development of a genetically 'improved' species of plants which have a specific productive short term purpose.

Suppose an area is cultivated solely for the production of the 'improved' species. This area will lack genetic diversity and will be susceptible to being destroyed by a mutation of a disease. Alternatively, a more diverse stock may be able to withstand the epidemic. It is in this regard that diversity in the genetic composition of a species contributes to its overall fitness.

Keystone Species

Each species plays a role in providing 'services' to other species within the ecosystem. The interaction between species and the services provided to each other combined with redundancy indicate the `degree of key' associated with a particular species. Without a keystone species, upper trophic levels will be affected. The keystone species for each ecosystem Figure 8: Woodland Caribou

Source: Gros Morne National Park website

will be different. The best method

to measure this class of ecological integrity is to identify a particular keystone species and show the interspecies linkages. Potentially, the value of the specific functions provided by a keystone species could be determined. For example, the northern flying squirrels in New Brunswick disperse hypogeous mycorrhizal fungi which, in turn, contribute to more vigorously growing trees.

The Woodland Caribou is a candidate keystone species for Gros Morne National Park. It is designated as such because it is wide-ranging throughout the park, it is a large herbivore, and has a migratory pattern across park boundaries into human impacted landscapes.