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ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS ON MACROINVERTEBRATE INDICATORS IN OHIO
Citation:
Majumder, S., F A. Fulk, AND S M. Cormier. ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS ON MACROINVERTEBRATE INDICATORS IN OHIO. Presented at North American Benthological Society, Pittsburgh, PA, May 28-June 1, 2002.
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:
Macroinvertebrate indicators are used as assessment endpoints for surface water quality monitoring in Ohio. The purpose of this study is to explain and predict the impact of environmental stressors on macroinvertebrate communities as measured by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Invertebrate Community Index (ICI). First, the impact of each stressor on macroinvertebrate communities was identified. Among water chemistry variables, ammonia, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, phosphorus and pH were found to have the greatest impact. Physical conditions that had the greatest impact were riffles, pools and the degree of channelization. Second, statistical models were developed to predict the probability of criterion attainment for the ICI and its metrics as a function of the environmental stressors and the interaction between them. The statistical modeling was done using a variant of the logistic regression procedure. The results indicate that by using data for the entire state, scores for the ICI and its metrics can be predicted correctly at 60-65% of the sites. These results can potentially be used for identification of sites with high risks of macroinvertebrate community degradation, and for "threshold" development of stressors. The statistical models are currently being cross-validated for further use and detailed focus on smaller areas.