U.S.

EPA Office of Research and Development

ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
and GUIDELINES for APPLICATION

Laura Jackson, Biologist

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program Research Triangle Park, NC

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

What is an Ecological Indicator?

INDICATOR A sign or signal that relays a complex message in a simplified and useful manner

ECOLOGICAL INDICATOR A measure, or a collection of measures, that describes the condition of an ecosystem or one of its critical components

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

USAGE of ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS

PROBLEM FORMULATION What is the condition of our valued ecosystems? Are conditions getting better or worse over time? Which of our valued ecosystems is in the worst condition? What stressors are associated with observed conditions? RISK MANAGEMENT Is our new policy resulting in the desired improvements?

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Indicator Characteristics and Applications

TYPE: Chemical, Biological, or Physical COMPLEXITY: Measurement, Metric, or Index METHOD: Field Measure, Remotely-Sensed, or Model Output DESIGN: Intensive Site Study, Survey, or Inventory MEDIUM: Aquatic, Terrestrial, or Multi-Media ASSESSMENT: Status, Trend, Predictive, or Diagnostic

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

BIOLOGICAL INDICES Fish

Benthic Macroinvertebrates Periphyton Birds Amphibians

Example Metrics
Family, Species Richness Abundance # Sensitive spp. % Tolerants # Trophic Strategies % Carnivores % Invertivores % Omnivores # Reproductive Strategies

NOW DEVELOPING INTO BIOCRITERIA FOR STATE WATER QUALITY MONITORING

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REMOTELY-SENSED INDICATORS Percent Land Cover Forest Fragmentation Percent Agriculture on Steep Slopes Density of Roads Crossing Streams Amount of Vegetated Riparian Zone Human Use Index

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INDICATORS UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Genetic Diversity Nutrient Cycling
STAR Grants Program

Coral Reef Indicators

Office of Research & Development

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Watershed/Landscape Health

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

EMAP-West
EPA Regions 8, 9 & 10 Stream, Estuarine, and Landscape Indicators Statistical Survey Design Intensive Augmentation Areas 1999 2004 Technology Transfer to States
EPA Contacts: Roger Blair (ORD, Corvallis, OR) Janet Hashimoto (Region 9, San Francisco)

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Evaluation Guidelines for Ecological Indicators Objectives:

PRESENT A CONSISTENT SET OF ISSUES FOR CONSULTATION

During Indicator Development In Scientific Review

ESTABLISH A STANDARD PROCESS FOR

ORD Indicator Researchers Partners Developing Indicators for ORD Monitoring Programs External Indicator Researchers working with ORD Funds

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Derivation of Guidelines

INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (Environmental Monitoring & Assessment Program - EMAP) PRESSURE-STATE-RESPONSE FRAMEWORK (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE & RESULTS ACT (U.S. Government)

Compiled by the ORD Ecological Indicators Workgroup

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Document Format
CHAPTER ONE Description of 15 Evaluation Guidelines CHAPTERS TWO FOUR Illustration of the Guidelines With Ecological Indicators under Development Dissolved Oxygen Concentration Index of Benthic Condition Fish Community Index

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Four Recommended Phases of the Evaluation Process 1. CONCEPTUAL RELEVANCE 2. FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTATION 3. RESPONSE VARIABILITY 4. INTERPRETATION AND UTILITY

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Conceptual Relevance

Guideline 1:

RELEVANCE TO THE ASSESSMENT

Guideline 2:

RELEVANCE TO ECOLOGICAL FUNCTION

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

1: Relevance to the Assessment

ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS What is the Condition of Estuaries? What Proportion of Estuarine Area has Degraded Ecological Condition? What Proportion of Estuarine Area has Degraded Benthic Communities? INDICATOR Index of Benthic Condition

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

2: Relevance to Ecological Function Dissolved Oxygen Concentration

Runoff

Sewage effluent
DISSOLVED OXYGEN from wave action & photosynthesis
shwater Lighter fre

PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOM thrives on nutrients Dead material settles D.O. trapped in lighter layer Decomposition

HYPOXIA
D.O. used up by microorganism respiration NUTRIENTS released by bottom sediments D.O. consumed SHELLFISH unable to escape hypoxia FISH able to avoid hypoxia

Decomposition of organic matter in sediments

Conceptual

Range of Metric Sensitivities - Fish Community Index

# Native Spp. # Native Families # Native Benthic Spp. # Native Water Column Spp. Abundance # Sensitive Spp. % Tolerants % Non-natives # Trophic Strategies % Carnivores % Invertivores % Omnivores % Herbivores # Reproductive Strategies % Clean Substrate Spawners % Tolerant Spawners

LOW

BIOTIC INTEGRITY

HIGH

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Feasibility of Implementation
Guideline 3: DATA COLLECTION METHODS Guideline 4: LOGISTICS Guideline 5: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Guideline 6: QUALITY ASSURANCE Guideline 7: MONETARY COSTS

3: Methods - Fish Community Index

Fis h Sp e cie s Rich ne s s (% o f M ax.)

100

80

60

40

20

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Str e am L e n g th (Ch ann e l Width Un its )

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

4: Logistics
ESTIMATE TYPE, TIME, AND EFFORT FOR: Site Access Field Crew Vehicles Travel Training Sampling Gear Data Transport Laboratory Facilities Laboratory Staff

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

5: Information Management

Time to Validate and Analyze Data Hardware and Software Requirements Critical Data Sets Metadata Requirements Data and Sample Archival

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

6: Quality Assurance
Follow QA Procedures or Discard Data re: SAMPLE COLLECTION SAMPLE PROCESSING SAMPLE STORAGE Perform QA Check for: EXTRACTING ORGANISMS FROM MEDIUM COUNTING AND IDENTIFYING SPECIES Ex. For 10% of samples, calculate
# organisms originally sorted # organisms originally sorted + additional # found in re-sort

x 100

90-95% - Re-train technician

<90% - Re-sort batch

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

7: Monetary Costs

Salary Lodging Travel Vehicles Sampling Equipment Laboratory Costs

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Response Variability

Guideline 8: ESTIMATION OF ERROR Guideline 9: WITHIN-SEASON VARIABILITY Guideline 10: ANNUAL VARIABILITY Guideline 11: SPATIAL VARIABILITY Guideline 12: DISCRIMINATORY ABILITY

8: Estimation of Error Dissolved Oxygen Concentration

180 160 140 120

Total N = 784

Frequency

100 80 60 40 20 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3

D.O. (mg/L)

8: Estimation of Error Fish Community Index

16
PERCENT ERROR

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1993 1994
YEAR

Transcription Species ID Nocomis sp. Cottus sp. Genus ID

1995

9: Within-Year Temporal Variability Index of Benthic Condition

9: Within-Year Temporal Variability Dissolved Oxygen Concentration

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 28 30 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
Date (July/August)

Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L)

D.O. (mg/L).
1: 0

9: Within-Year Temporal Variability (Diurnal)

Dissolved Oxygen Concentration

Time

0 2: PM 00 3: PM 00 4: PM 00 5: PM 00 6: PM 00 7: PM 00 8: PM 00 9: PM 00 10 P M :0 0 11 P :0 M 0 12 P :0 M 0 1: PM 00 2: AM 00 3: AM 00 4: AM 00 5: AM 00 6: AM 00 7: AM 00 8: AM 00 9: AM 00 10 A M :0 0 11 A :0 M 0 12 AM :0 0 1: AM 00 PM

10: Across-Year Temporal Variability Index of Benthic Condition

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Station

Benthic Index

1991 1992 1993 1994

PROPORTION TOLERANT INDIVIDUALS

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

PI ED . /C .P LA IN EY S. E

VA LL W B LU E R ID G T. AP P S. S. R ID G E .A PP C EN .A PP

11: Spatial Variability Fish Community Index

AGGREGATED ECOREGIONS
N

12: Discriminatory Ability - Fish Community Index

Proportion of Extraneous Variance 0% IBI Score Native Species Richness Native Family Richness Total Abundance Prop. Indiv. of Introduced species Sensitive Species Richness Benthic Species Richness Water Column Species Richness % individuals of tolerant species % Individuals as Top Carnivores % Individuals as Invertivores % Individuals as Herbivores % Individuals as Omnivores No. Reproductive Strategies Prop. Indiv. As Tolerant Spawners 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

SITE

YEAR

INTERACTION

INDEX

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development

Interpretation and Utility

Guideline 13: DATA QUALITY OBJECTIVES

Guideline 14: ASSESSMENT THRESHOLDS

Guideline 15: LINKAGE TO MANAGEMENT ACTION

13: Data Quality Objectives Fish Community Index

POWER TO DETECT TREND Effect of Sample Size 1 0.8 Power 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 5 10 Years 15 20
Sample size
n=60/yr n=120/yr n=240/yr

Magnitude=0.4%/yr Year Variance=0 Alpha=0.1

13: Data Quality Objectives Fish Community Index

POWER TO DETECT TREND Effect of Magnitude
1
Magnitude of trend

0.8 Power 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 5 10 Years 15

0.2% /yr 0.3% /yr 0.4% /yr 0.6% /yr

n = 60 sites per yr Year Variance=0 Alpha=0.1

20

14: Assessment Thresholds Index of Benthic Condition

15: Linkage to Management Action Fish Community Index

Prop. Resource Population 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 20 40 60 80 100

IND IC AT O R VALUE CD F LC L (90% ) UC L (90% )

Linkage to Management Action - Fish Community Index

Introduced Fish Watershed & Nonpoint Source Shoreline Habitat Nutrient Enrichment In-Stream Habitat Acid Deposition Acid Mine Drainage 0 10 20 30 40 50

Percent of Stream Miles Impacted

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Document Availability
For Electronic Copy and Ordering Information, Please see EMAP Website:

http://www.epa.gov/emap/

Or Call 1-800-490-9198 And Request EPA Publication Number

EPA/620/R-99/005