Comparison of macroinvertebrate community structure between two riffle-based sampling protocols in Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana, 2000-2001

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is committed to serve the Nation with accurate and timely scientific information that helps enhance and protect the overall quality of life, and facilitates effective management of water, biological, energy, and mineral resources. (http://www.usgs. gov/). Information on the quality of the Nation's water resources is of critical interest to the USGS because it is so integrally linked to the long-term availability of water that is clean and safe for drinking and recreation and that is suitable for industry, irrigation, and habitat for fish and wildlife. Escalating population growth and increasing demands for the multiple water uses make water availability, now measured in terms of quantity and quality, even more critical to the long-term sustainability of our communities and ecosystems. The USGS implemented the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to support national, regional, and local information needs and decisions related to water-quality management and policy. (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/). Shaped by and coordinated with ongoing efforts of other Federal, State, and local agencies, the NAWQA Program is designed to answer: What is the condition of our Nation's streams and ground water? How are the conditions changing over time? How do natural features and human activities affect the quality of streams and ground water, and where are those effects most pronounced? By combining information on water chemistry, physical characteristics, stream habitat, and aquatic life, the NAWQA Program aims to provide science-based insights for current and emerging water issues and priorities. NAWQA results can contribute to informed decisions that result in practical and effective waterresource management and strategies that protect and restore water quality. Since 1991, the NAWQA Program has implemented interdisciplinary assessments in more than 50 of the Nation's most important river basins and aquifers, referred to as Study Units. (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/nawqamap.html). Collectively, these Study Units account for more than 60 percent of the overall water use and population served by public water supply, and are representative of the Nation's major hydrologic landscapes, priority ecological resources, and agricultural, urban, and natural sources of contamination. Each assessment is guided by a nationally consistent study design and methods of sampling and analysis. The assessments thereby build local knowledge about water-quality issues and trends in a particular stream or aquifer while providing an understanding of how and why water quality varies regionally and nationally. The consistent, multi-scale approach helps to determine if certain types of water-quality issues are isolated or pervasive, and allows direct comparisons of how human activities and natural processes affect water quality and ecological health in the Nation's diverse geographic and environmental settings. Comprehensive assessments on pesticides, nutrients, volatile organic compounds, trace metals, and aqu...

An approach for determining bioassessment performance and comparability

“…These factors include sample collection method, sampling design, taxonomic levels used, and reference condition criteria used. Several studies have provided approaches and case studies examining performance of individual aspects of a bioassessment protocol such as sampling (Cao et al 2005;Blocksom and Flotemersch 2005;Peterson and Zumberge 2006;Stribling et al 2008b), sorting efficiency for macroinvertebrates, taxonomic data quality (Hawkins and Norris 2000;Stribling et al 2003Stribling et al , 2008a, and scoring systems (Blocksom 2003;Astin 2006;Reynoldson et al 1997). Although still preliminary, many researchers have reported that if performance is similar and sampling methods are relatively similar, assessments are likely to be comparable for most objectives (Herbst and Silldorff 2006;Jessup and Gerritsen 2006).…”

Density declines, richness increases, and composition shifts in stream macroinvertebrates

“…In addition, to account for differences in sampling techniques and equipment, the following method codes for sampling events were selected: BERW, IRTH, SWAMP, EMAP, CDPHE, and PNAMP. Previous studies have suggested that these methods, which use similar mesh sizes, are comparable in their ability to detect the presence and absence of taxa (41)(42)(43). Only area-limited sample data were used.…”

Characterizing invertebrate traits in wadeable streams of the contiguous US: differences among ecoregions and land uses

“…Samples were collected with various methods described elsewhere (Cuffney et al 1993, Moulton et al 2002, USEPA 2004, Herlihy et al 2008, Hughes and Peck 2008. Herlihy et al (2008) and Peterson and Zumberge (2006) used these data to investigate the effects of NAWQA and WSA sampling protocols on measures of assemblage composition and found samples comparable. Carlisle and Hawkins (2008) used a subset of these data to investigate bias associated with data source and found only minimal statistical differences in estimates of taxonomic completeness between NAWQA and WSA samples in the western US.…”