Lists of Stressors from Monitoring Studies
Monitoring programs conducted by government agencies and non-governmental organizations may identify types and levels of stressors. For example, U.S. EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) has monitored common stressors found in estuarine systems.1 Among those listed are elevated nutrient concentrations, prolonged phytoplankton blooms, low dissolved oxygen, and sediment contamination.
State agencies and volunteer monitoring programs may also be good sources of information on stressors. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), for example, maintains a web site with links to maps indicating long term trends in total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids for third order and larger streams in the state of Maryland.2
1. See U.S. EPA's Condition of the Mid-Atlantic Estuaries. Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC. EPA 600-R-98-147. November 1998.
2. See Maryland DNR's web site, http://www.dnr.state.md.us/streams/status_trend/index.html 