Throughout the process of developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating conservation actions, needs for specific information to answer specific questions will arise. For instance, monitoring data collected while tracking a species assemblage might eventually indicate declines in one or more species. Resulting research priorities might include the identification of the threats contributing to the decline, investigation of species' life-history and requirements, or an experimental evaluation of habitat restoration techniques designed to reverse the decline. These specific research and survey activities would better direct management decisions by providing information that supplements long-term monitoring data.
Many monitoring needs that are identified require baseline information that is currently not available. In particular, a statewide status assessment of wildlife distributions and abundance is necessary to identify baseline conditions for wildlife conservation, a need that is clearly identified as a priority in the SGCN Summaries. Research to determine which species or communities will be most useful as indicators of overall condition will focus survey and monitoring efforts. Surveys to locate additional high quality natural communities identified by the Michigan Natural Features Inventory are also greatly needed, because spatial extent and condition of these communities may be valuable indicators of landscape feature condition.
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