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Criteria Development Guidance
Wetlands
The Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual: Wetlands is one in a series of waterbody-specific documents that support the National Nutrient Strategy. The intent of this document is to provide States and Tribes with methods to assess waterbody nutrient impairment and develop ecoregion-specific nutrient criteria. The Wetlands document provides background information on classifying Wetlands, selecting criteria variables, designing monitoring programs, building a database analyzing nutrient and algal data, deriving regional criteria, and implementing management practices.
- Fact sheet about the Guidance Manual (October 4, 2007)
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Guidance Manual: Wetlands; EPA-822-R-07-004
- Cover and Front Matter (PDF) (12 pages, 36K)
- Table of Contents
- List of Figures
- List of URLs/References
- Executive Summary (PDF) (5 pages, 39K)
- Chapter 1—Introduction (PDF) (11 pages, 95K)
- Introduction
- Water Quality Standards and Criteria
- Nutrient Enrichment Problems
- Overview of the Criteria Development Process
- Roadmap to the Document
- Chapter 2—Overview of Wetland Science (PDF) (16 pages, 312K)
- Introduction
- Components of Wetlands
- Wetland Nutrient Components
- Chapter 3—Classifications of Wetlands (PDF) (22 pages, 392K)
- Introduction
- Existing Wetland Classification Schemes
- Sources of Information for Mapping Wetland Classes
- Differences in Nutrient Reference Condition or Sensitivity to Nutrients among Wetland Classes
- Recommendations
- Chapter 4—Sampling Design for Wetland Monitoring (PDF) (15 pages, 57K)
- Introduction
- Considerations for Sampling Design
- Sampling Protocol
- Summary
- Chapter 5—Candidate Variables for Establishing Nutrient Criteria (PDF) (18 pages, 79K)
- Introduction
- Overview of Candidate Variables
- Supporting Variables
- Causal Variables
- Response Variables
- Chapter 6—Database Development and New Data Collection (PDF) (11 pages, 45K)
- Introduction
- Databases and Database Management
- Quality of Historical and Collected Data
- Collecting New Data
- Quality Assurance/Quality Control
- Chapter 7—Data Analysis (PDF) (13 pages, 84K)
- Introduction
- Factors Affecting Analysis Approach
- Distribution-based Approaches
- Reponse-based Approaches
- Partitioning Effects Among Multiple Stressors
- Statistical Techniques
- Linking Nutrient Availability to Primary Producer Response
- Chapter 8—Criteria Development (PDF) (9 pages, 81K)
- Introduction
- Methods for Developing Nutrients Criteria
- Evaluation of Proposed Criteria
- Interpreting and Applying Criteria
- References (PDF) (43 pages, 126K)
- Appendices (PDF) (32 pages, 178K)
- Acronyms and Glossary
- Case Study: Deriving a Phosphorus Criterion for the Florida Everglades
- Full Document (PDF) (197 pages, 1.3MB)