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Bioassessment Publications - Mid-Atlantic

Featured Publications

Taxonomic Aids for the Mid-Atlantic Region

Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) State of the Flowing Waters Report (EPA-620-R-06-001)

This assessment serves the purpose of a report card on the state of streams and rivers in the Mid-Atlantic region. It combines data from two sample surveys of flowing waters conducted in the region by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the period 1993-98.  Two unique aspects of this assessment are very important: (1) it focuses first on the biological status of streams and rivers (to assess their ecological condition), and then on the stressors having both the greatest extent and the greatest effects on biological assemblages; and (2) it results from a sample survey design that allow us to present the results as though every stream and river in the region had been sampled. It provides the first statistically unbiased assessment of the health of the region’s flowing waters. View / Download the PDF (February 2006) (85pp, 11MB, About PDF)

Proof of Concept for Integrating Bioassessment Results from Three State Probabilistic Monitoring Programs (EPA-903-R-06-003)

We assessed the feasibility of integrating three probabilistic monitoring programs: Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. A provisional combined estimate of condition was calculated for the non-Coastal Plain region of these states using multimetric indices. Using our example integration approach (and treating each state as a stratum) and the 10th percentile of reference sites as a degradation threshold, we estimated that approximately 39% of all streams in the non-Coastal Plain of the three states would be classified as degraded for 1997-2003.
View/Download PDF File (June 2006) (36pp, 815KB, About PDF)

Developing Biological Indicators: Lessons Learned from Mid-Atlantic Streams (EPA-903-F-06-001 brochure)

Lessons learned from the MAIA study are outlined as well as the steps involved in developing stream biological indicators. Efforts to resolve aspects of sampling design, data collection and management, correlating human impacts and survey data, testing and selecting individual metrics, and final development and application of a multi-metric index are presented here. This document is aimed at agency scientists or managers tasked with implementing regional monitoring programs.
View/Download PDF file (January 2006) (8pp., 913 KB, About PDF)

Baltimore County Stream Restoration Improves Quality of Life (EPA-903-F-06-008 brochure)

Baltimore County, Maryland, faces a challenge common to most areas experiencing urban growth: how to keep its waterways stable and healthy for the sake of its ecosystems and residents. Having completed more than 40 stream restoration projects (with a similar number in budget, design, permitting, or construction phases), the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management (DEPRM) has been successful in meeting its objectives to restore watershed health. This publication highlights DEPRM’s watershed approach to stream restoration and is intended for municipalities and technical teams responsible for implementing similar initiatives.
View/Download PDF file (August 2006) (12pp., 2.1MB, About PDF)

Proceedings of the Workshop on Stormwater Management and Mosquito Control (EPA/903/R-06/004)

A workshop on various aspects of stormwater management was held at WorWic Community College, Salisbury, MD, on February 9, 2005. The objective of the workshop was to develop consensus guidance and recommendations for the construction, modification and maintenance of facilities that promote water quality, limit mosquito production and provide wildlife habitat to the extent possible. Workshop organizers developed a list of expectations that considered the role of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in the context of legislatively and regulatorily driven objectives, engineering considerations and ecological considerations (wildlife habitat and mosquito production). The results of the workshop indicated that it is possible to achieve water quality objectives and at the same time to limit mosquito production in stormwater management facilities.
View/Download PDF file (8pp, 1.1MB, About PDF)

A Managers Guide to Indicator Selection (EPA/600/S-06/002 brochure)

Humans are part of—not apart from—ecological systems. Individual and collective choices within a watershed determine land use patterns, such as forested, agricultural, or urban, that in turn affect aquatic ecosystems. As a society, we want to derive valuable ecosystem services from our aquatic resources. These services include drinking water, recreation, habitat, or other amenities. Conflicts arise when social choices (land use patterns) adversely affect these desired services. Government managers are charged with managing the protection or achievement of these ecosystem services; to be effective, their decision-making processes must be done within the context of society’s choices.
View/Download PDF file ( 8pp, 3.42 MB, About PDF)

An Introduction to Mid-Atlantic Seasonal Pools (EPA-903-B-05-001) Mid Atlantic Seasonal Pools Report

Seasonal pools, also known as vernal ponds, provide important ecological services to the mid-Atlantic region. This publication serves as an introduction to seasonal pool ecology and management; it also provides tools for exploring seasonal pools, including a full-color field guide to wildlife. Seasonal pools are defined as having four distinctive features: surface water isolation, periodic drying, small size and shallow depth, and support of a characteristic biological community.
View/Print/Download Entire Report (PDF) (101 pp, 4.4MB, About PDF)

Sustainable Preservation and Enhancement of an Historic Urban Neighborhood: A Study of East Towson (EPA/903/F-05/003 brochure)

EPA's Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) has identified unique solutions to environmental concerns developed by organizations throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Local universities are working with MAIA to document successful solutions. This publication is one of a series designed to communicate these solutions as a service to state and local governments, regional offices, and non-government organizations that make a variety of environmental decisions.
View/Download PDF file (6pp, 2.27 MB, About PDF)

New Indicators of Coastal Ecosystem Condition (EPA/600/S-05/004 brochure)

In order to protect against continued degradation and loss of coastal ecosystem services and to plan for their remediation, new indicators are needed that will predict when and where ecosystem degradation and wetland losses will occur. Three ecological indicators of coastal condition are being investigated by researchers with the Atlantic Coast Environmental Indicators Consortium (ACE INC, www.aceinc.org): 1) phytoplankton community composition; 2) salt marsh elevation and plant health; and 3) the size distribution of aquatic organisms (biomass spectra).
View/Download PDF file (6pp, 1.8MB, About PDF)

The North Fork Potomac Watershed Story (EPA-903-F-04-002 brochure)

Water in the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River had high levels of fecal bacteria primarily from rain or snow-melt running off of beef and poultry farms. As a result, landowners, environmental organizations, universities, and government agencies worked together to improve water quality. Because of this partnership, the stream no longer exceeds listing criteria for the list of impaired or polluted surface waters in West Virginia (WV).
View/Download PDF file (8pp, 970 KB, About PDF)

New Tools Measure Chesapeake Bay Health (EPA/600/F-04/203 brochure)

The areas where the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries meet the Bay form the shallow-water ecosystems that provide breeding areas and protection for many of the seafood delicacies and waterfowl that humans cherish. Research has shown that human activities directly influence these shallow-water ecosystems. Any degradation of these systems impacts our quality of life. Marsh bird diversity, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in white perch, and abundance of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) are three ecological indicators linked to land-use that are being investigated by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) as part of the Atlantic Slope Consortium (ASC). These studies provide strong evidence that the environmental and ecological conditions of estuaries depend on the land use in their associated watersheds.
View/Download PDF file (4pp, 1.21MB, About PDF)

High Radium Levels in Anne Arundel County Drinking Water Corrected (EPA/903/F-04/005 brochure)

In the late 1980's, high cancer death rates in Anne Arundel County, Maryland were made a health priority. Tobacco and other lifestyle issues were targeted but concerns in the community resulted in an Advisory Task Force to study health and environmental factors to see if there were other factors involved.
View/Download PDF file (8pp, 4.17MB, About PDF)

June Bugs Invade Links (EPA/903/F-03/005 brochure)

June beetle larvae infested an Aberdeen Proving Ground golf course, severely damaging the turf. Applications of insecticide finally killed the larvae, but the resulting odor of decaying insects closed the course. Golf course managers needed a new approach.
View/Download PDF file (8pp, 8.5MB, About PDF)

MAIA Project Summary.  Birds Indicate Ecological Condition of the Mid-Atlantic Highlands (EPA-620-R-00-003 brochure)

The USEPA and the Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center have found associations among songbirds, where they live, and environmental health or condition in the Mid-Atlantic highlands area.  We can now measure how the distribution of various birds changes as land use is altered.
View/download PDF file ( 8pp, 343 KB, About PDF)

States and Tribes Embrace Bioassessment and Biocriteria for Protecting Streams and Small Rivers (EPA-822-F-03-005 brochure)

The miles of streams and small rivers assessed for biological condition increased from 65,000 in 1995 to almost 440,000 in 2001.
View/Download PDF file (PDF) (5pp, 1.28 MB, About PDF)

Pilot Study for Montgomery County and Maryland DNR Data Integration: Comparison of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling Protocols for Freshwater Streams (EPA903-R-03-005)

This report presents the results of a quantitative comparison of benthic sampling protocols used by MBSS and Montgomery County to assess freshwater, non-tidal streams. It supports the contention that Montgomery County and Maryland DNR stream monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrate communities can be effectively integrated. The study demonstrates that D-Net sampling protocol can provide more reliable benthic indices of biotic integrity (B-IBI) indices than the Kick Seine protocol because sampling from more plots is more representative of the stream segment. This study also indicates that Montgomery County could improve the precision of their B-IBIs by increasing the level of chironomid and oligochaete identification to genus level. For the same overall survey cost, however, we conclude that the identification of chironomids to tribe, in conjunction with an appropriate increase in the number of sampling sites, could yield a similar level of precision in mean B-IBI scores. For some monitoring programs, the moderate improvements in IBI precision obtained by identifying chironomids to genus may not warrant the needed investments in equipment and training. One option for such programs is to identify these taxa to tribe as part of a B-IBI for watershed screening and to identify these taxa to genus only at impaired stations to support stressor identification.
View/Download PDF file (52pp, 954 K, About PDF)

Developing Biological Indicators: Lessons Learned from Mid-Atlantic Streams (EPA-903-R-03-003)

A survey of water chemistry, land use, riparian condition, and channel morphology was conducted to understand how human influence alters fish, invertebrate and periphyton assemblages. During 1993-1996, 296 sites were sampled for fish, 583 for invertebrates and 317 for periphyton. A primary goal of the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) study was to define biological indicators for each assemblage that could be used to assess stream condition at the regional level.
View/Download PDF file (6pp, 2.01 MB, About PDF)

Watershed Partnership Protects World-Class Trout Stream (EPA-903-F-02-007 brochure)

The brown trout population in Spring Creek was stressed because water quality was being degraded by both point and non-point sources of pollution.
View/Download PDF file (6pp, 1.4 MB, About PDF)

Calvert County, Maryland's Success in Controlling Sprawl (EPA/903/F-02/004 brochure)

Rapid population growth and suburban development and the resultant change in land use and land cover were affecting the Calvert County landscape. The county prepared a Comprehensive Plan which recommends a four-step implementation strategy to achieve maximum results: (1) reduce total build-out; (2) reduce the rate of residential growth; (3) preserve the County's prime farms, forests, historic resources and sensitive areas; and (4) direct all growth to appropriate locations.
View/Download PDF file ( 8pp, 795 KB, About PDF)

Assessment Framework for Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Streams Using Benthic Macroinverterbrates (MACS Report)

A cooperative study was initiated in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain region of the United States between the USEPA and state water resource agencies for the purpose of evaluating the usefulness of composited reference conditions for bioassessment. This unique example of interagency collaboration provided the impetus for a rigorous design and testing of standard biological survey protocols and selection of sites for conducting biological surveys throughout the 6-state region of the coastal plains. The results of this study were prepared as a scientific publication for the Journal of the North American Benthological Society. This manuscript has undergone a rigorous peer-review for subsequent publication in JNABS. Presented here is the data report, which provides the supporting data to the published manuscript.
View/download PDF file (121pp, 603 K, About PDF)

Biological Indicator Variability and Stream Monitoring Program Integration: A Maryland Case Study (EPA-903-R-02-008)

A regulatory decision-making framework is currently being developed by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for listing watersheds as impaired (Clean Water Act, Section 303 (d)), using the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS) Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores for fish and benthic macroinvertebrates. The MBSS uses both fish and benthic macroinvertebrate IBIs based on a suite of community-based metrics to characterize the health of freshwater streams statewide. In this report, a model-based approach is used to quantify the uncertainty around biological indicators at individual sites, and the authors discuss how such uncertainty can be taken into account in the biocriteria framework.
View/Download as PDF (92pp, 2.36 MB, About PDF)

Montgomery County, Maryland Uses Biological Monitoring to Better Understand and Manage Watersheds (EPA-903-F-02-005 brochure)

Montgomery County faced a growing problem that has confronted local governments across the country: the cumulative impacts that population growth and resulting land-use changes are having on local streams and their accompanying ecosystems. Land-use change brings with it an increase of impervious (non-absorbent/non-permeable) surfaces. Studies show that stream health is directly related to imperviousness. As imperviousness increases, stream and groundwater health decreases.
View/Download as PDF (8pp, 7.55MB, About PDF)

Mid-Atlantic Highlands Streams Assessment: Technical Support Document (EPA-903-B-00-004)

This Technical Support Document presents the underlying scientific basis for the Mid-Atlantic Highlands Streams Assessment (EPA-903-R-00-015) and the conclusions reached in that report. It draws upon and complements material found in the peer-reviewed literature and, as such, is not intended to contain all the information available on the Mid-Atlantic Highlands Streams program.
View/Download PDF file (113pp, 12.7 MB, About PDF)

Mid-Atlantic Highlands Streams Assessment (EPA/903/R-00/015)

This report assesses the ecological condition of streams in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands and ranks the potential stressors affecting stream condition. This study used an innovative statistical survey, like a political poll, to sample almost 500 stream reaches throughout the Highlands. The report defines stream condition in terms of the health of the biological organisms in the stream, rather than just focusing on chemicals in the streams. The study, however, also measured stream chemistry as well as the physical habitat in which these organisms live. It found that a greater number of stream miles had biological organisms in poor condition than in good condition throughout the Highlands. Overall, 31% of the stream miles were in poor condition based on a fish Index of Biotic Integrity and 27% were in poor condition based on an aquatic insect index. Only 17% of the stream miles were in good condition based on the fish Index of Biotic Integrity while 25% were in good condition based on the aquatic insect index. For the first time, we have a benchmark for stream condition across the Highlands and a scorecard against which we can compare future changes in stream condition.
View/Download PDF (74 pp, 3.6 MB, About PDF)

From the Mountains to the Sea:  The State of Maryland's Freshwater Streams (EPA-903-R-99-023)

Maryland streams represent a vital, life-giving resource to its citizens. In addition to providing clean water to support life in Chesapeake Bay, the world's most productive estuary, our streams provide habitat for a multitude of plants and animals.  From cascading mountain brooks to meandering coastal streams, flowing waters are sought out for their great beauty, recreational value, and source of tranquility in a fast-paced world. For these reasons and more, protection and restoration of our aquatic world need to be high on our list of priorities.
View/download as PDF (51pp, 5.71 MB, About PDF)

Field and Laboratory Methods for Macroinvertebrate and Habitat Assessment of Low Gradient, Nontidal Streams

This document establishes standard procedures for collecting biological and physical habitat data in low gradient nontidal streams of the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain ecoregion.  The methods presented in this document were developed by a workgroup of State and USEPA biologists called the Mid-Atlantic Coastal  Streams (MACS) Workgroup. They were developed for coastal plain streams from New Jersey to South Carolina to promote the transfer of data and knowledge  between State and Federal agencies in this region. The methods may also be applicable to other regions that have low gradient streams. Testing is encouraged  in the application of these methods to areas outside this region.
View/download PDF file (49pp, 510 K, About PDF)

New Index of Environmental Condition for Coastal Watersheds in the Great Lakes Basin (EPA/600/S-05/005)

The Great Lakes is the largest system of surface freshwater on the earth. It contains about 20% of the earth’s fresh water and about 90% of the freshwater in the United States. The wealth of natural resources has made this area a center of economic activity for the United States. From mining, forestry, and agriculture to recreation and shipping, human activities have taken a toll on the natural environment. In response to the continued degradation of the Great Lakes, the United States and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972. The goal of this agreement was “restoring the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem” to achieve healthy populations of plants, fish, and wildlife and to protect human health. To monitor progress towards this goal, measurements of human-caused stress must be made over a period of time to evaluate changes in environmental condition.
View/Download PDF file (2pp, 281 K, About PDF)

 

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