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Fraser River Action Plan 3rd Research Workshop Development of a Biomonitoring Programme for the Fraser River Catchment Basin using Reference Condition T.B. Reynoldson 1 , K.E. Day 1 and D.M. Rosenberg 2 1 National Water Research Institute 2 Freshwater Institute Presentation Slides by S. Kirby The assessment of the ecological risk (ERA) of various impacts to watersheds from anthropogenic activities often involves the comparison of biological communities at sites with suspected disturbance to sites in so-called pristine reference areas. In riverine environments, this usually includes a comparison of communities located upstream from point-source pollutants to communities located downstream from the source(s) of disturbance. Many of these comparisons use methods which are traditional to freshwater biological studies (i.e., biotic indices and univariate statistics with relatively few control sites) which may be located either within the same body of water or, more rarely, in differing bodies of water. There are a number of problems with these traditional approaches which have received discussion in recent years, including: • difficulties in finding unimpacted sites and in matching habitats of ‘clean’ sites with contaminated sites; • problems in the interpretation of the inherent natural variability in species composition; • abundances at sites with differing environmental characteristics; and, • interpretation of the ‘ecological relevance’ of the results. The definition of a ‘reference site’ has changed in the past few years (Davis and Simon, 1995) and it is now accepted that there are no ‘pristine’ sites in most areas near anthropogenic activities. However, candidate reference sites should represent ‘least disturbed’ conditions, as well as cover the range of ‘best attainable conditions’ given the current use patterns for any stressors in any given region. In recent years, there have been a number of studies which have expanded the concept of a few reference sites to ‘sets of reference sites’ located either regionally or grouped by similarities in characteristics such as the structure of the floral and faunal communities or by chemical and physiographic variables. This grouping of reference sites has been termed the ‘reference condition’ (Wright et al., 1988; Johnson and Wiederholm, 1989; Corkum, 1989; Norris and George, 1993; Reynoldson et al., 1995; Hughes, 1995; Rosenberg et al., 1995). The reference condition approach tried to find common patterns in the structure of biological communities at ‘least impacted sites’ using multivariate classification techniques and then determine the environmental variables which constitute these community structures. The result of the multivariate analysis is the formation of a number of groups of community types which form the ‘reference’ condition. The environmental variables which drive these groupings are then used in a predictive model to determine the structure of the biological community at test or impacted sites (i.e., the model predicts what communities should be present at a site if the site was undisturbed). The actual community at a test site can then be compared to the reference community group for similarities in structure. This provides a method to separate ecological variability from true stress-related changes. We are currently using this multivariate statistical approach at a large number of ‘reference’ sites in the Fraser River watershed and are in the process of developing a predictive model for erosional zones in first to ninth order streams. This approach involves an extensive sampling regime over a three-year period for such ‘least impacted’ sites and has the following objectives: Page 235
Fraser River Action Plan 3rd Research Workshop • To classify least-impacted, reference stream and river sites (approximately 250) in the Fraser River watershed based on benthic macroinvertebrate and attached algal communities; • To determine whether the type of biological community at unstressed sites can be predicted using simple physical and chemical environmental variables measured in the streams and rivers; • To develop a model which allows predictions of biological communities at potentially contaminated sites based on these measured environmental variables and comparisons of predicted communities to ‘reference’ communities; and, • To incorporate the information developed in the predictive model into a software program for use by managers in making environmental decisions regarding disturbed sites in the Fraser River watershed and the adequacy of current or proposed regulatory approaches. Site Selection The multivariate method used in this study required approximately 250 reference sites to establish the reference condition. The sites chosen were distributed among as many different ecoregions and stream orders as possible and obtained the broadest possible set of reference conditions. A series of workshops with provincial experts served to identify non-, moderately and heavily impacted subcatchments and to choose reference sites with minimal impact. The high number of reference sites required a sampling program staged over three years. In October, 1994, 50 sites were sampled in the Stuart, Chilcotin, Clearwater, Pitt, Salmon and Fraser rivers. Of these 50 sites, 14 were considered impacted by logging, agriculture or pulp and paper mills and served as test sites. Over 100 sites were sampled in September, 1995 from the Fraser, Herrick, Stein, Nicola and Chelaslie rivers. The final year of sampling will include the Fraser, Torpy, Bowron, West Road, Eucheniko, Tyaughton and Chehalis rivers and will take place in September, 1996. Ten percent of the sites were repeated in each of the study years to address annual variability, and an additional four to six sites were sampled seasonally to examine seasonal variation. Samples Collected 1. The collection of benthic invertebrates was the focus of the Fraser River biomonitoring program. After a preliminary study to determine which methods were logically feasible and robust among operators, the following methods were adopted: • a kick net was utilized for semi-quantitative sampling of erosional zones; • five replicates were collected at each site in 1994; one replicate in 1995; • kick-time was standardized for three minutes; and, • mesh-size of the kick net was optimized at 400 µm. 2. A sub-component of the study included the collection and analysis of attached algal communities by taxonomic identification of periphyton samples. In addition, subsamples for chlorophyl A and carbon measurements were determined. 3. A set of common physical and chemical variables was measured at each site based on previous studies examining the relationship between environmental characteristics and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure in lotic ecosystems as follows: Page 236
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PROCEEDINGS 3rd RESEARCH WORKSHOP F
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Participants ....
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Development of a Citizen’s Monito
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Fraser River Action Plan 3rd Resear
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SESSION 1 PULP MILL EFFLUENT ISSUES
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SESSION 4 AGRICULTURAL ISSUES
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Fraser River Action Plan Concluding
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