There are several current or past programs at the NHEERL's Western Ecology Division (WED) that might be of use to you in
doing the Mid Atlantic Assessment. The following is a brief description of WED research that I thought might be of most help in preparing the Mid Atlantic Assessment. I am also attaching a copy of a report that I prepared for the Biological Advisory Committee. This report is mostly extracted from the 1997 WED contribution to the NHEERL Annual Report that has not yet been published. If there is anything else that I can do to help at this point please let me know.
1) WED scientists are responsible for compiling the stream data from EMAP's MAIA program. This will an estimate of the condition of the biological integrity of the streams in the region and includes data on both fish and invertebrate assemblages. The analysis will provide information on the causes of degraded conditions, but will not directly assess the impact of climate change on the area. A draft report will be ready for peer review in September
Contact: John Stoddard (Phone: 541 754-4441, E-mail
stoddard@mail.cor.epa.gov ) or Phil Larsen (Phone 541 754-4362, E-mail
Larsen@mail.cor.epa.gov)
2) At the watershed scale, indicators of land use and land cover are important contributions to our ability to interpret the ecological condition of surface waters. WED scientists have used both Thematic Mapper (TM) and USGS Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) data to characterize the watersheds of surveyed streams and lakes. In the Mid-Atlantic Highlands, the most common land use was forest (77%) followed by agriculture (20%), and urban (1%). Despite large differences in resolution and age, virtually identical results were obtained with TM and LULC data.
Contact: John Stoddard (Phone: 541 754-4441, E-mail
stoddard@mail.cor.epa.gov )
3) Development of biological indicators have received considerable attention, so that more direct assessments of ecological condition can be performed than is possible with chemically-based criteria. One of the primary tools being developed by WED scientists is the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), which uses data on the relative abundance of fish species, collected at numerous survey sites, to estimate the biotic integrity of lake and stream ecosystems in a region. The IBI is an index of a site's ability to support and maintain a community of organisms having a composition, diversity and functional organization comparable to that of natural habitats (reference sites) of a region. WED scientists have recently developed IBIs for lakes in southern New England.
Contact: Phil Larsen (Phone 541 754-4362, E-mail Larsen@mail.cor.epa.gov)
4) The following modeling effort was not done in the Mid Atlantic Region, but the model might be useful to you. Climate models indicate that increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could alter climate globally. WED has applied the EPIC (Erosion/Productivity/Impact Calculator) model to examine the sensitivity of soil erosion and crop production including corn and soy beans across the US corn belt to changes in temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and atmospheric CO2 concentration associated with projected global climate change.
Contact: Don Phillips (Phone 541 754-4485, E-mail Phillips@mail.cor.epa.gov )
5) This program was based on an Inter-agency Agreement between USGS and EPA Simulating Climate-Biosphere Interactions under Changing Climate Conditions. It is focused on development of models which simulate the response of hydrology, soil moisture, vegetation distribution, and atmospheric feed backs to changing climatic conditions. It is not currently active, but there is a significant amount of information that is potentially useful in the MARA. Danny marks was the principal investigator on this project when he was at WED.
Contacts: (WED) Don Phillips (Phone 541 754-4485, E-mail
Phillips@mail.cor.epa.gov )
(ARS) Danny Marks (Phone 208 422-0721, E-mail
danny@quercus.ars.pn.usbr.gov)
6) Prior to coming to WED Al Solomon completed a model of the effects of climate change on forests in the mid Atlantic, New England and Great Lakes regions is available. He is out of town this week. I will ask him on his return to send you a short description of this model.
Contact: Al Solomon (Phone 541 754-4772, E-mail Solomon@mail.cor.epa.gov)
Hal Kibby Tel:
+1 541 754 4488
USEPA Fax:
+1 541 754 4799
Western Ecology Division E_mail:
Kibby@mail.cor.epa.gov
200 SW 35th Street
Corvallis, OR 97333