Development of Estuarine Biological Indicators

Transcription

1 Development of Estuarine Biological Indicators Marguerite (Peg) Pelletier, Giancarlo Cicchetti, Emily Shumchenia, Carol Pesch, Henry (Hal) Walker, John Kiddon plus EPA and non EPA partners and contributors including the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, EPA Office of Water and Region 1, other NEPs, and state contributors U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development elopment National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic A Ecology Division

2 ... many Indicators have been developed and/or measured

3 Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) Improve use of bioassessment (e.g., acres of eelgrass, high biodiversity/biotic indices) to improve decision making Framework to evaluate alteration to biological structure and function along a stressor gradient relative to a baseline condition anchor Originally developed for stream communities, but currently being expanded to estuaries, wetlands, large rivers & watersheds

4 Natural Historical Tier 1 Biological Condition Hypothetical 303d threshold Tier 6 Degraded (Severely Altered) Low Level of Stressors High

5 Biological Condition Gradient in Estuaries Framework recently extended to estuaries based on workshop held in Narragansett RI in 2008 (Cicchetti & Pryor 2010) Explicitly allowed for multiple indicators and multiple scales (single habitat, whole estuary) Structure Function Condition Connectivity Non native Example indicators eelgrass extent benthic invertebrate condition relative amounts of critical habitat (e.g., habitat mosaics, see Cicchetti & Greening 2011) Natural structure and function of biotic community maintained Minimal changes in structure and function Major changes in structure and moderate changes in function Evident changes in structure and minimal changes in function Severe changes in structure and function Moderate changes in structure and minimal changes in function

6 Natural Historical Biological Condition Abundant eelgrass Healthy shellfish communities Healthy benthos Loss of eelgrass and scallop communities Degraded Impacted benthic communities Increasing Watershed Development & Population Density Increasing Sediment (& Nutrient) Contamination Increasing Hypoxia Events

7 Example BCG for Greenwich Bay EG = eelgrass extent BH = benthic habitat PS = primary productivity & shellfish

8 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) Started as a research program to develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess the status and trends of national ecological resources. EMAP estuaries (1990 to 1995) REMAP (regional studies; ) Mid Atlantic Integrated Assessment ( ) National Coastal Assessment ( ) Continued as National Aquatic Resource Surveys 4 resources sampled on a 5 year rotating basis Lakes Rivers & Streams Coastal Wetlands Coastal sampled in 2010, & more sampling planned for 2015

9 EMAP Virginian Province Benthic Index Benthic Index = * (salinity normalized Gleason s D 51.5) / * (salinity normalized tubificid abundance 28.2) / * (spionid abundance 20.0) / 45.4 Pearson & Rosenberg 1978 High diversity sites Paul et al Ecological Indicators 1:83 99 Low diversity sites and/or High numbers of tubificids (low salinity) High numbers of spionids (higher salinity)

10 Long Island Sound Open water sites are in generally good condition Hot spots were evident around New Haven and Bridgeport where the Housatonic River enters Long Island Sound

11 Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay shows characteristic North South gradient Providence River has poor condition Western Greenwich Bay shows impairment Lower Bay generally good

12 Buzzards Bay Bay in generally good condition Poor conditions seen in New Bedford Harbor and parts of the Westport River

13 Probable Effect Concentration (PEC for Copper > 108 ug/g Threshold Effects Concentration for Copper 18.7 ug/g Narragansett Bay has greatest PEC exceedances for Cu Northeast NEPs NCA

14 Summary Estuarine BCG can: Provide a vocabulary and common language to describe ecosystem conditions Allows for better communication (to managers or the public) on ecological status along with improvement or decline Provides a management context to use biological data to achieve water quality goals EMAP data can Provide a useful baseline to anchor future data collection efforts Provide consistently collected data over time moving forward

15 Any Questions?