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DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS, METHODS AND ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES FOR USE IN HEADWATER INTERMITTENT STREAMS
Citation:
Fritz, K M. DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS, METHODS AND ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES FOR USE IN HEADWATER INTERMITTENT STREAMS. Presented at Surface Water Monitoring and Standards Meeting, Chicago, IL, February 04 - 05, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this research is to develop methods and indicators that are useful for evaluating the condition of aquatic communities, for assessing the restoration of aquatic communities in response to mitigation and best management practices, and for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (i.e., pesticides, sedimentation, habitat alteration).
Description:
Despite representing the most abundant and widespread of our nation's surface waters, regions, states and tribes have received little guidance specific to headwater intermittent streams from the U.S. EPA. Headwater streams lie at the terrestrial-aquatic interface both spatially, because of their narrow channel widths and landscape position, and temporally, because of their relatively young geological age and recent transition from terrestrial to aquatic habitats. Perhaps as important, many have physical characteristics of both aquatic and terrestrial habitats because of seasonal flowing and drying phases. These characteristics make the headwater ecosystem a challenging environment for regions, states, and tribes to address regulatory issues.
The Ecological Exposure Research Division (EERD) has received funding through the Regional Methods (RM) Program (sponsored by EPA Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10) to 1) develop standard field protocols for assessing headwater streams (including those that are intermittent); 2) identify appropriate sampling index periods in various regions to maximize biomonitoring potential; 3) identify indicators of hydrologic permanence; and 4) identify potential stressors/impairments to headwater streams.
During the first year (2003) of the study, physical and biological data were collected from 61 sites across a flow permanence gradient and four geographic locations. These locations are Robinson Forest Wildlife Management Area in east central Kentucky, Hoosier National Forest in south central Indiana, Wayne National Forest in south east Ohio, and Edge of Appalachia Nature Preserve in south central Ohio. Preliminary results indicate that channel measures (e.g., bankfull width, channel slope) may be useful for determining the hydrologic permanence of a reach; however, these measures were regionally specific. The slopes of invertebrate species-area relationships appear to vary to a larger extent by region than by hydrologic permanence or habitat type. In addition, total abundance of salamanders did not differ between perennial and intermittent reaches.
The RM study will provide the necessary field protocols for regions, states and tribes to determine the biological integrity and designated uses for the "capillaries" of the river network. The information and tools generated from this study should enable natural resource managers to take advantage of headwater streams as potentially useful study units for investigating the possible effects of land use on water quality. For example, assessment of condition within headwater reaches provides better resolution of land use effects on streams. There is less heterogeneity of land use within smaller basins than larger basins, and therefore, cause of impairment should be more apparent. Additionally, because first order streams are more numerous than higher order streams, replicated studies investigating land use effects should be more feasible. Finally, identifying multiple streams in reference condition is more likely for headwater streams than large water bodies. By building a better understanding of the hydrology associated with headwater streams, these systems can then be useful in our understanding of land use effects on water quality both within small watersheds and across landscapes.