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THE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FOR THE GREAT RIVER ECOSYSTEM (EMAP-GRE)
Citation:
THE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FOR THE GREAT RIVER ECOSYSTEM (EMAP-GRE). Presented at Missouri River Natural Resource Conference, Columbia, MO, May 23-26, 2004.
Description:
Monitoring and assessment tools, including sample designs, analytical procedures, field protocols, metrics and reference conditions are not well developed for Great River Ecosystems such as the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers. The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's Great River Ecosystems Initiative (EMAP-GRE) is a partnership among the EPA's Office of Research and Development, States, Tribes and other federal agencies. The initiative addresses science gaps, and will contribute to improved ecological assessments of these nationally significant resources. Specific objectives of EMAP-GRE include: 1) develop and demonstrate a probability sample design that will yield unbiased, robust, state-scale estimates of Great River condition, 2) develop and test indicators and metrics of Great River condition and stress, and 3) determine reference condition for selected Great River habitats and indicators. Achieving these objectives will permit an assessment, with known statistical confidence, of the condition and extent of the Missouri, upper Mississippi, and Ohio River Ecosystems. GRE habitats included in the research are the main channel, main channel littoral areas, and riparian areas. Remote sensing data will provide a larger-scale assessment perspective including the floodplain. Multiple biological assemblages will contribute to the assessment, including fish, macroinvertebrates, phytoplankton, periphyton, zooplankton, and aquatic and terrestrial vegetation. Water quality, sediment toxicity, fish tissue contaminants, aquatic and riparian physical habitat, and human disturbance will be quantified as indicators of stress to provide context for interpreting biological data and for identifying reference condition. In total, about 320 randomly-selected sites will be sampled on the three rivers in July-October of 2004 and 2005. Additional targeted sites will be sampled for developing reference condition. This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.