procedures and at locations where modifications or manipulations are being activated. The duration of the monitoring activities at the 10 MWe STPS should be for a long enough period to permit evaluation of the potential long term biotic changes that are expected to occur. Because the expected active period of the 10 MWe STPS is only seven years, monitoring should continue for this full period. 100 MWe STPS: Proposed Designing a specific monitoring program for a large 100 MWe STPS years ahead of the engineering specifications or site selection is difficult if not impossible. The basic procedure should be similar to the proposed 10 MWe STPS monitoring program. Baseline data should be obtained on the biotic components of the ecosystem and the parameters, such as soil, that would not vary much over time if there were no site disturbance. The baseline data should also be taken at a similar adjacent control site. As discussed earlier in the Research Chronological Program section, selection of the ecosystem parameters to be monitored should be based on data obtained from the simulation studies and the 10 MWe STPS monitoring program. Because this will be the first very large 100 MWe STPS, adequate monitoring should be carried out to validate ecological changes that were predicted for the site based on results from earlier studies. Again, biotic parameters should be monitored for at least three years and hopefully for many more. The large amount of acreage being modified will not just create an island effect, but will establish a whole new environmental "sub-biome” at the site. It is possible that many exotic or non-native species of plants and animals will invade the site as others move or die out. Broad abiotic measurements may be all that are necessary to take if they can be correlated with the more detailed data obtained at the 10 MWe STPS and the simulation or irrigation sites. Basic measurements that should be taken under the heliostats, within the heliostat array and at the control site include soil moisture; temperatures in the ground, at ground surface and approximately 50 cm above the ground; and air movement at 20 to 50 cm. These data can be easily compared to the quantities of abiotic data from earlier studies and are some of the prime factors that will control any changes in the biotic structure of the ecosystem.
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