| |
Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Periphyton
DEVELOPMENT OF ALGAL INDICATORS FOR MONITORING EUTROPHICATION IN NEW JERSEY STREAMS.
K.C. Ponader1, D.F. Charles1, and T.J. Belton2. 1Patrick Center for Environmental Research, The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, 2NJDEP - Science and Research, 401 East State Street, PO Box 409, Trenton, New Jersey 08625
Nuisance levels of algae in New Jersey rivers and streams result primarily from high levels of nutrients coming from a variety of agricultural, residential and urban sources. We present initial results of a project to develop algal indicators for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. These indicators will be designed to assess levels and causes of cultural eutrophication in streams. 31 stations, all in the Piedmont region of New Jersey and part of the NJ Ambient Monitoring Network, were sampled in 2000 and 2001 for diatoms, soft-algae and water chemistry. Measurements of algal biomass, algal species composition, physical stream conditions and water chemistry were collected to develop models and metrics for inferring nutrient concentrations from diatoms and soft algae. The diatom flora is composed of 236 taxa dominated by pollution tolerant species. Chlorophyll a and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations are correlated (r2= 0.69). CCA of species and environmental variables shows that TP, orthophosphate and NO3-N have a strong influence on diatom composition. Therefore, we expect successful development of nutrient inference models and multi-metric indicators for use as water quality management tools.
|
|
