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Concepts and Approaches for the Bioassessment of Non-wadeable Streams and Rivers
EPA/600/R-06/127
September 2006
Full document:
- Concepts and Approaches for the Bioassessment of
Non-wadeable Streams and Rivers (PDF)
(245 pp, 1.6MB) About PDF)
Download document by section:
- Preliminary Pages (PDF) (25 pp, 379K)
- Chapter 1: Introduction (PDF) (12 pp, 109K)
- Chapter 2: Elements of Biomonitoring (PDF) (18 pp, 717K)
- Chapter 3: Study Design, Data Quality, and the Performance-Based Methods System (PDF) (19 pp, 115K)
- Chapter 4: Habitat Assessment and Physicochemical Parameters (PDF) (15 pp, 74K)
- Chapter 5: Algae (PDF) (21 pp, 130K)
- Chapter 6: Benthic Macroinvertebrates (PDF) (26 pp, 242K)
- Chapter 7: Fish (PDF) (26 pp, 211K)
- Chapter 8: Data Analysis (PDF) (40 pp, 360K)
- Chapter 9: Literature Cited (PDF) (33 pp, 123K)
- Glossasry (PDF) (10 pp, 54K)
Abstract
In 1998, the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development (USEPA-ORD) received funding to develop standardized protocols for the bioassessment of large (i.e., non-wadeable) streams and rivers. The request came from scientists in USEPA’s regional offices who recognized that states and tribes need these protocols (which we term Large River Bioassessment Protocols or LR-BP), to meet their monitoring and enforcement objectives. In response, we conducted several years of research and development to adapt existing or devise new protocols, specific to the ecological and logistical demands of these large, flowing systems. We systematically compared alternative approaches and documented their performance characteristics, collaborating extensively with regional, State and Tribal scientists to ensure that the protocols were both technically feasible and economically practical.
We originally conceived of this document as a compilation of these research results. At the request of the user community, however, we have expanded it to present a comprehensive technical framework for the bioassessment of non-wadeable streams and rivers. While presentation of the LR-BP remains our main focus, several other bioassessment approaches exist that vary in purpose and technical approach. Therefore, the document is structured to show the technical relationship of the LR-BP to other protocols, and to assist the user in the selection of those that best allow programmatic management objectives to be met. We realize that in some cases protocols will need to be modified; to support these cases, the document provides information to assist the reader in determining the performance characteristics of the modified protocol.
In several locations in the document, specific programs have been highlighted to provide examples of how program elements might be more fully developed. Highlights are not intended to indicate endorsement or recommendation of these programs, nor should they be used as a stand-alone reference for field application.