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Decadal Changes In Benthic Community Measures In New York Harbor
Citation:
BENYI, S. J. AND D. A. ADAMS. Decadal Changes In Benthic Community Measures In New York Harbor. Presented at Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) 21st Biennial Conference, Daytona Beach, FL, November 06 - 11, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
This work is the culmination of 3 years of monitoring in New York Harbor spanning a 10-year period, and is intended to examine relationships between the benthic community and the chemical and physical environment surrounding it.
Description:
Monitoring in New York Harbor, NY, as part of the Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program has spanned a decade, and includes habitat and water quality measures and sediment contaminant levels from four sub-basins (Upper NY Harbor, Lower NY Harbor, Newark Bay, and Jamaica Bay). Previous investigations have evaluated the status of the benthic community in New York Harbor after five years, and now, with the final year of sampling, we examine changes in that community over 10 years. The U.S. E.P.A. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program’s benthic index for the Virginian Province and the New York Harbor benthic index of biotic integrity were applied to benthic abundance and water quality data. Our goal is to analyze differences in the benthic community by station and by sub-basin, and compare those observations with sediment and water quality analyses to identify trends in condition over the 10-year monitoring period.