Download or read book Development of Diagnostic Approaches to Determine Sources of Anthropogenic Stress Affecting Benthic Community Condition in the Chesapeake Bay written by Daniel M. Dauer and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benthic macrofauna are an important component of estuarine ecosystems. These organisms are a food source for higher trophic levels including fishes and crabs and birds. Benthic macrofauna affect both the physical and chemical properties of the sediment and the overlying water column, influence nutrient cycling, and are capable of directly controlling phytoplankton biomass in the water column. Because of these characteristics, monitoring of the benthos provides important information for making management decisions in marine systems. Also, the relatively long life span and sedentary nature of these organisms make them good indicators of water quality and the effects of man-made disturbances on aquatic systems. The objective of this study was to develop analytical tools that are capable of classifying regions in Chesapeake Bay identified as having degraded benthic communities into categories distinguished by the type of stress experienced by those communities.
Download or read book Addendum to the Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dauer et al. (2002) submitted a report to the US EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office on the development of diagnostic approaches to determine sources of anthropogenic stress affecting benthic community condition in the Chesapeake Bay. The objective of the study was to develop analytical tools capable of classifying regions in Chesapeake Bay identified as having degraded benthic communities into categories distinguished by the type of stress experienced by those communities. The tool was successful at identifying regions with high probabilities of sediment contamination. However, prior to implementation, it was recommended that the operational effectiveness of the diagnostic tool be further tested using additional validation data sets.
Download or read book Development of Diagnostic Approaches to Determine Sources of Anthropogenic Stress Affecting Community Condition in the Chesapeake Bay written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book National Coastal Condition Report II written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Assessment of Chesapeake Bay Benthic Macroinvertebrate Resource Condition in Relation to Water Quality and Watershed Stressors written by Governor's Council on Chesapeake Bay Research Fund and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book GIS Based Localization of Impaired Benthic Communities in Chesapeake Bay written by BL. Preston and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current ecological risk assessment methodologies have limited capacity to account for the spatial heterogeneity in Stressors and physical/chemical conditions characteristic of aquatic and estuarine ecosystems. The Shannon-Weaver index was utilized to construct spatial models of benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity in Chesapeake Bay over several time periods between 1987-2001. These models were subsequently compared to monitoring data for sediment contaminant concentrations and physical/chemical water quality conditions. A series of GIS exercises demonstrated that low values for species diversity were associated with higher concentrations of a diverse array of contaminants as well as physical/chemical water quality conditions. Multivariate regression analysis among a range of contaminant and water quality variables accounted for up to 61% of the observed variation in benthic biodiversity. Collectively, these results demonstrate the numerous challenges for conducting ecologically relevant risk assessments at the ecosystem level, which can be partially ameliorated with quality monitoring data and geographic approaches to environmental assessment.
Download or read book Chesapeake Bay Benthic Community Restoration Goals written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Achieving Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Goals in the Chesapeake Bay written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-10-26 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary, as well as an important commercial and recreational resource. However, excessive amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from human activities and land development have disrupted the ecosystem, causing harmful algae blooms, degraded habitats, and diminished populations of many species of fish and shellfish. In 1983, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) was established, based on a cooperative partnership among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Maryland, and the commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia, to address the extent, complexity, and sources of pollutants entering the Bay. In 2008, the CBP launched a series of initiatives to increase the transparency of the program and heighten its accountability and in 2009 an executive order injected new energy into the restoration. In addition, as part of the effect to improve the pace of progress and increase accountability in the Bay restoration, a two-year milestone strategy was introduced aimed at reducing overall pollution in the Bay by focusing on incremental, short-term commitments from each of the Bay jurisdictions. The National Research Council (NRC) established the Committee on the Evaluation of Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation for Nutrient Reduction in Improve Water Quality in 2009 in response to a request from the EPA. The committee was charged to assess the framework used by the states and the CBP for tracking nutrient and sediment control practices that are implemented in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and to evaluate the two-year milestone strategy. The committee was also to assess existing adaptive management strategies and to recommend improvements that could help CBP to meet its nutrient and sediment reduction goals. The committee did not attempt to identify every possible strategy that could be implemented but instead focused on approaches that are not being implemented to their full potential or that may have substantial, unrealized potential in the Bay watershed. Because many of these strategies have policy or societal implications that could not be fully evaluated by the committee, the strategies are not prioritized but are offered to encourage further consideration and exploration among the CBP partners and stakeholders.
Download or read book Integrated Analysis of Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Data written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The U S Geological Survey and the Chesapeake Bay written by Scott W. Phillips and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Studies of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure written by J. Wright Horton and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Investigation of the Environmental Conditions and Processes Associated with Benthic Community Composition in Restored and Upstream Reaches of the North Carolina Piedmont written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benthic community response to restoration activities was investigated at 27 pairs of streams in an upstream-downstream study in the Piedmont of North Carolina. This was accomplished through various approaches to acquire different perspectives for exploring meaningful responses of the benthos to restoration. The four overall methods applied for this investigation are: - traditional statistical analysis of environmental variables and common community indices, - multivariate analysis of the community composition and their associated environment, - development and application of a procedure for measuring habitat quality enhancement through the presence of specialists, and - development of qualitative models for predicting community response. While this investigation was applied to a wide range of land uses and the impacts of the landscape were demonstrated to be of importance in structuring benthic communities, constructive observations and conclusions can be made from the results. Each approach to exploring benthic community response provided unique insight into the effects of restoration activities on the biota and the means by which these effects are measured. The high variability of the physical and biological data constrained statistical inference, and illustrate the limited ability of paired t-tests with complex datasets. These results suggest more comprehensive methods may be required to determine meaningful responses from these complex communities. The multivariate analyses provide an alternative approach to exploring the effects of restoration. Results indicated a simplification of community occurred in restored reaches and suggested a strong influence of disrupted sediment transport may be responsible for the difference in communities. The development and application of a measure of habitat enhancement was also developed from this dataset. This study considered the presence of habitat specialists as indication of successful restoration of habitats. Finally, th.
Download or read book Oxygen Dynamics in the Chesapeake Bay written by David E. Smith and published by Schiffer Publishing. This book was released on 1992 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the processes that create and sustain anoxia (the absence of oxygen) and hypoxia (the near absence of oxygen) in bottom waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The authors of the book's four chapters discuss major findings and summarize the gradually developing consensus on the implications of these findings for resource management. William C. Boicourt focuses on the physical aspects of Chesapeake Bay in order to distinguish the role and relative importance of circulation processes in the creation of low dissolved oxygen levels. Thomas C. Malone examines the role of water column processes, including the importance and interaction of nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton. Robert Jonas discusses the significance of microbial populations, while W. Michael Kemp and Walter R. Boynton discuss the role and importance of benthicpelagic coupling on Chesapeake Bay dissolved oxygen.
Download or read book Synthesis of U S Geological Survey Science for the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem and Implications for Environmental Management written by Scott W. Phillips and published by Geological Survey (USGS). This book was released on 2007 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this report is to present a synthesis of the USGS Chesapeake Bay science related to the 2001-06 goals and provide implications for environmental management. The report provides USGS findings that address the science needs of the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) restoration goals and includes summaries of 1. land-use change; 2. water quality in the watershed, including nutrients, sediment, and contaminants; 3. long-term changes in climate and estuarine water quality; 4. estuary habitats, focusing on submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and tidal wetlands; and 5. factors affecting fish and waterbird populations.
Download or read book Benthic Community Responses to Hypoxic Conditions in the Lower Rappahannock River Virginia written by Mary Elaine Smith and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ecological Studies in the Middle Reach of Chesapeake Bay written by Kenneth L. Jr. Heck and published by Springer. This book was released on 1987-12-01 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The decision to build a nuclear power plant at Calvert Cliffs on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland resulted in a Iandmark legal decision (Calvert Cliffs Coordinating Committee vs Atomic Energy Commission) and began one ofthe mostintensive long-term studies ever carried out in an American estuarine system. In the pages that follow we describe the major results and findings from studies conducted over more than a decade by scientists from The Academy of Natural Seiences of Philadelphia (ANSP). These studies were designed to assess the potential effects that operation ofthe Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) might have on the mid-portion of Chesapeake Bay. The approach taken was to study major biotic components of the system over an area and a time period sufficient to allow comparison of conditions between preoperational and operational periods within a sampling locality, and comparisons of conditions at reference sites with those at impact sites afterplant operations began. Elementschosen for detailed study included: species composition and production rates of major primary producers; water chemistry; zooplankton, benthos and finfish abundance and species composition; the abundance and growth rates of commercially important shellfish (clams, oysters and blue crabs); and the colonization sequences of invertebrates on artificial substrates.
Download or read book Hypoxia Chesapeake Infauna written by Lisa Walls and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
