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BIOLOGICAL INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT AND CLASSIFICATION FOR GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS
Citation:
Moffett, M F., N E. Detenbeck, L E. Anderson, S L. Batterman, J. C. Brazner, C M. Elonen, B H. Hill, T. M. Jicha, Pearson, V M. Snarski, D K. Tanner, D L. Taylor, AND M S. Pearson. BIOLOGICAL INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT AND CLASSIFICATION FOR GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS. Presented at USEPA Science Forum 2002: Meeting the Challenges, Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC, May 1-2, 2002.
Description:
Great Lakes coastal wetlands are a valued aquatic resource that provide important ecological functions for the Great Lakes including serving as fish habitat, aquatic food web support, and nutrient and sediment retention from watersheds. Great Lakes resource managers need assessment tools for coastal wetlands to aid in assessing condition and diagnosing the causes of impairment of these coastal waters for which biological integrity needs to be maintained as per Sections 305(b) and 303(d) of the Clean Water Act of the United States. Needed are 1) an inventory and classification of coastal wetlands along the Great Lakes for regional monitoring; 2) biological indicators for measuring health in Great Lakes coastal wetlands; 3) biocriteria development for wetlands throughout the basin; 4) determinations of quantitative and predictive relationships between stressors and responses; and 5) diagnostic tools specific for Great Lakes coastal wetlands. The research presented includes work to address these multiple needs through a collaborative project coordinated by the Mid-Continent Ecology Division (MED-Duluth) of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in the Office of Research and Development. This includes an Interagency Agreement (IAG) with the U.S. Department of Interior/Fish and Wildlife Service through the EPA Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (R-EMAP) for EPA Region 5. The IAG is developing multimetric indices of biological integrity for plants, invertebrates and fish for riverine coastal wetlands and has used a probabilistic design approach for selecting wetland sites for assessment of condition. The MED-Duluth research collaboration has made contributions to classification of coastal wetlands and the production of a database of coastal wetlands and is testing landscape indicators and linking them to indicators of nutrient, sediment and hydrologic stressors and these in turn to changes in the biological indicators. Nutrient criteria for wetlands and diagnostic methods under development will help work towards consolidated assessments of condition and diagnosis of impairment. Partners have included numerous States, tribal nations, universities, research institutes and other parts of EPA. This work demonstrates that cross-organizational efforts can be designed and carried out to meet a broad range of inter-related objectives to obtain the necessary tools for more comprehensive guidance for clean and safe water. This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.