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Concurrent Sessions - B. Development and Use of Environmental Indicators in Environmental Decision-making

Casco Bay Estuary Partnership Environmental Indicators: Balancing science, technology, policy and funding
Curtis Bohlen, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership
Presentation available (pdf format)
Abstract: Casco Bay Estuary Partnership (CBEP) produces a “State of the Bay” report every five years. The report is based on our monitoring plan, which highlights fourteen “environmental indicators”, plus additional indicators that address emerging issues. While CBEP collects data on environmental condition and funds collection of more by our partners, most of our indicators depend to a greater or lesser extent on data collected by others. Such a strategy for indicator development reduces monitoring costs, but it poses other challenges. Data collection programs rise and fall depending on policy priorities, changes in personnel and vagaries of funding. Data collection methods change over time, or they may not directly address our needs. The timing of data collection‚ especially for infrequently collected (expensive) data, may not coincide with publication schedules. Every few years we dedicate significant staff time to locate, gather and analyze available data that bears on each indicator. We rely on in-house data analysis, mapping, and scientific skills to interpret and present the data in a form that is technically sound, yet accessible to the general public. As we consider ways the strengthen our monitoring program, we strive to strike an appropriate balance between technical rigor, ability to detect trends, provide solid technical and scientific support for policy making, and clearly articulate a narrative that describes environmental change in Casco Bay and its watershed.

The Intersection Between Indicators and the Gulf of Maine
Christine Tilburg, Gulf of Maine Council, EcoSystem Indicator Partnership; Adria Elskus, USGS and University of Maine; Kathryn Parlee, Environment Canada; Susan Russell-Robinson, USGS
Presentation available (pdf format)
Abstract: Since 2004 a community of ecosystem indicator developers for the Gulf of Maine and its watershed has been at work to better understand the Canada-United States region-wide system for seven theme areas: coastal development, climate change, contaminants, eutrophication, aquatic habitats, fisheries, and aquaculture. The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC) is actively identifying and delivering priority indicators through the EcoSystem Indicator Partnership (ESIP) which is comprised of more than 100 expert advisors from local, state and federal governments, academics and partners from non-government organizations. Using a consensus-based process, the group selected priority indicators for the theme areas using criteria based on data availability throughout the region and indicator sensitivity to stressors and changes in human activity. ESIP, with support from Environment Canada, Fisheries and Ocean Canada, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has conducted status and trends analyses for five sets of indicators: aquaculture, aquatic habitats, climate change, contaminants, and eutrophication. The wealth of data collected is provided via focused Fact Sheets and the Indicator Reporting Tool (www2.gulfofmaine.org/esip/reporting) which enables local managers to make choices based upon sound science for their own system and the greater region.

Use of biological assemblages as indicators of ecological status in Europe and the United States
Susan Davies, Liberty Aquatics
Presentation available (pdf format)
Abstract: Preservation of healthy aquatic assemblages is an objective of both the U.S Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union. Many parallel challenges, and solutions, exist between the U.S. and the EU, towards use of biological indicators and criteria. But fundamental differences in governance structures have resulted in important differences between the two continents. The U.S CWA bestows most authority over water quality standards to the fifty States, resulting in unevenness of target biological goals as described in each states water quality standards. In contrast, in comparison to the U.S, the EU has established much greater “top-down” control and standardization over permissible biological quality goals, and allowed technical approaches. WFD Intercalibration establishes the comparability of bioassessment results of the 27 Member States, for phytoplankton, phytobenthos, invertebrates, and fish, in rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Comparison of sampled assemblages in the EU is against boundaries established from extant reference conditions, wherever available. If reference conditions have been lost then expectations for “good ecological status” are inferred from modeling, or via reference to historical records. A scientific peer review of the EU biological intercalibration exercise concluded in 2012. Most participating MSs received approval of their Intercalibration results from the European Commission.

Indicators of Groundwater Quality: Understanding Trends and Uncertainty
John Peckenham, Senator George Mitchell Center, University of Maine; T. Thornton, Oxbridge Academy of Palm Beaches
Presentation available (pdf format)
Abstract: Groundwater is the source of drinking water for many. In rural communities it is likely the sole source. In general, individuals and rural communities have little knowledge of groundwater and the relationship between land uses and drinking water quality. We developed a groundwater testing and education project (GET WET!) to study emergent trends in water quality indicators. This project serves as a vehicle to establish a baseline for specific indicators, as well as, for education and community-based collaborative research. Participants across Maine and other states have tested drinking water from private wells to quantify: pH, conductivity, chloride, hardness, dissolved metals, and nitrate. The results from over 1400 unique records show emergent trends in these indicators. The spatial and temporal patterns have been used to inform communities about water quality. The presentation will include groundwater quality results and trends observed in three Maine communities. The trends observed are complex (noisy) and utilization of these data must properly account for uncertainty. We will present methods being developed to manage intrinsic uncertainty in the interpretation of trends.

Why the difference? Environmental factors influencing fish tissue mercury concentrations in temperate lakes
Linda C. Bacon, Bureau of Land and Water Quality, Maine DEP; Aria Amirbahman, University of Maine; Stephen A. Norton,  University of Maine; Barry F. Mower, Bureau of Land and Water Quality, Maine DEP
Presentation available (pdf format)
Abstract: Increased loadings of mercury (Hg) from non-point sources have translated to Hg contamination in freshwater fish and resulted in consumption advisories across the U.S. and eastern Canadian provinces. Hg deposition from atmospheric sources is declining; however the legacy of 100 years of deposition across the landscape will persist for decades or longer.  Hg concentrations in fish are not uniform in lakes across Maine but differ by species and water chemistry characteristics, particularly those which support bacterial methylation of Hg, which increases bioavailability and results in bioaccumulation to toxic levels higher in the food chain.   Evidence suggests that trophic status is also a mediator in this process, thus samples of trophic drivers (i.e., nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, aluminum, dissolved organic carbon, and pH) were obtained along with fish tissue samples from White Perch (Morone americana) during 2010 and 2011 from  approximately 75 Maine lakes.  Results indicate a linear relationship between epilimnetic total mercury and methyl mercury (R2 of 0.54); further analysis indicates that dissolved organic carbon, elevation and alkalinity influence fish tissue Hg concentrations.  These results provide insight into inter-lake variation that could be considered should future modifications be made to Maine’s blanket fish consumption advisory.

Bioindicators and other limnological features in the pelagic region derived from the inherent optical properties of lake water
David Kalenak, Emmanuel Boss, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine
Presentation available (pdf format)
Abstract: The purpose of this presentation is to introduce novel optical techniques to rapidly assess physical and biological processes in lakes. Our approach is based on aquatic substances that spectrally absorb and scatter light that determine the inherent optical properties (IOPs) of lake water. In marine science, IOPs have shown to be robust surrogates for many biogeochemical parameters. Modern in-situ instrumentation can measure absorption and scattering coefficients of both total particulate and dissolved organic matter with high spectral resolution. Optimization techniques permit decomposition of select IOPs into additional components (e.g., the estimate of absorption by phytoplankton particles). Here we outline this technology and to discuss how IOP measurements are used to obtain information on the vertical dynamics of several important limnological parameters in relation to physical quantities (e.g., thermal stratification or light penetration). This will include the concentration of chlorophyll a and is relation to biomass; identifying the dominant phylum in phytoplankton assemblages through unique light harvesting pigments; size index as well as composition (e.g., organic vs. inorganic) of suspended particles; and the concentration and compositional aspects of CDOM. In-situ measurements, including those measured in 2012 at Auburn Lake, Maine, will be used to illustrate these concepts.


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