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DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDEX OF BENTHIC CONDITION FOR COASTAL AREAS OF THE GULF OF MAINE
Citation:
Hale, S S. DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDEX OF BENTHIC CONDITION FOR COASTAL AREAS OF THE GULF OF MAINE. Presented at New England Estuarine Research Society Conference, Burlington, VT, March 3-7, 2004.
Description:
The National Coastal Assessment has sampled benthic assemblages each summer since 2000 in coastal areas of the U.S. Gulf of Maine. We are developing a multimetric index to be used as an indicator of benthic condition for both spatial comparisons of condition along the coast and for year-to-year comparisons. During the first two years, states (ME, NH, MA) sampled benthic assemblages at 182 stations with a 0.01-m2 Young-modified Van Veen grab and sieved the samples through a 0.5-mm mesh. We used stepwise and canonical discriminant analysis with several candidate metrics of benthic condition to develop a discriminant score that could distinguish between sites with low benthic environmental quality (BEQ, based on levels of sediment chemical contaminants, sediment toxicity, and dissolved oxygen level of the bottom water) and sites with high BEQ. We developed a discriminant function, using measures of diversity and community structure, that successfully classified 85% of the stations. Our next step will be to validate the index with independent data sets. The benthic index will provide environmental managers with a simple tool for assessing the health of Gulf of Maine coastal benthic communities.