Water Quality Functions of Riparian Forest Buffers in Chesapeake Bay Watersheds

/ Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, USA, have agreed to reduce nutrient loadings to Chesapeake Bay by 40% by the year 2000. This requires control of nonpoint sources of nutrients, much of which comes from agriculture. Riparian forest buffer systems (RFBS) provide effective control of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution in some types of agricultural watersheds. Control of NPS pollution is dependent on the type of pollutant and the hydrologic connection between pollution sources, the RFBS, and the stream. Water quality improvements are most likely in areas of where most of the excess precipitation moves across, in, or near the root zone of the RFBS. In areas such as the Inner Coastal Plain and Piedmont watersheds with thin soils, RFBS should retain 50%-90% of the total loading of nitrate in shallow groundwater, sediment in surface runoff, and total N in both surface runoff and groundwater. Retention of phosphorus is generally much less. In regions with deeper soils and/or greater regional groundwater recharge (such as parts of the Piedmont and the Valley and Ridge), RFBS water quality improvements are probably much less. The expected levels of pollutant control by RFBS are identified for each of nine physiographic provinces of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Issues related to of establishment, sustainability, and management are also discussed.KEY WORDS: Riparian forest buffers; Chesapeake Bay; Nonpoint source pollution; Nitrogen; Phosphorus; Sediment     

A mixture of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and non-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) changed the lipid content of pregnant Long Evans rats

Pregnant Long Evans rats received 1.0 μg/kg of dioxin toxic equivalents (TEQ) by oral gavage on the 15th gestational day (GD 15), using a dosing mixture that contained two polychlorinated dioxins, four polychlorinated furans and three non-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Rats were sacrificed on GD 16, GD 21 and postnatal day 4 (PND 4). The lipid content of fetus, pup, placenta and maternal liver, serum and adipose tissue were determined. Treated GD 16 and GD 21 fetuses had identical lipid content to the control group, yet the lipid content of treated pups on PND 4 was 32% higher than that of the control group. On the other hand, the lipid content of placenta, liver, and serum from the treated dams was 44–50%, 24%, and 38% lower than that of the control group, respectively. Thus, a low-dose mixture of dioxin-like compounds can cause changes in lipid content. The lipid content of offspring was not affected until they were exposed via lactation.     

Spatial and temporal trends in surface water and sediment contamination in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Data from recent sediment and surface water surveys have been collated and mapped to illustrate the spatial distribution of contaminants across the entire Great Lakes basin. Information from historical surveys, together with data from surface water monitoring programs in three major connecting channels, has also been collated in order to evaluate temporal trends. In general, Lakes Superior and Michigan exhibited the lowest levels of sediment contamination while Lake Ontario had the highest. Contaminants such as gamma-HCH (lindane) and dieldrin were ubiquitous in surface waters across the entire basin, which was indicative of atmospheric sources. The distribution of other compounds including hexachlorobenzene, octachlorostyrene and mirex indicated the presence of local sources within the watersheds of the connecting channels. Surficial sediment contamination was found to have decreased markedly since the late 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, surface water contamination decreased over the period 1986-1997 with concentrations of dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene, octachlorostyrene and mirex reduced by over 50%. However, the spatial distributions of both sediment and surface water contamination indicate that further effort is warranted in reducing local sources of contaminants, particularly in Lake Ontario.     

Biodegradation of potential diesel oxygenate additives: dibutyl maleate (DBM), and tripropylene glycol methyl ether (TGME)

The addition of oxygen-bearing compounds to diesel fuel considerably reduces particulate emissions. TGME and DBM have been identified as possible diesel additives based on their physicochemical characteristics and performance in engine tests. Although these compounds will reduce particulate emissions, their potential environmental impacts are unknown. As a means of characterizing their persistence in environmental media such as soil and groundwater, we conducted a series of biodegradation tests of DBM and TGME. Benzene and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) were also tested as reference compounds. Primary degradation of DBM fully occurred within 3 days, while TGME presented a lag phase of approximately 8 days and was not completely degraded by day 28. Benzene primary degradation occurred completely by day 3 and MTBE did not degrade at all. The total mineralized fractions of DBM and TGME achieved constant values as a function of time of approximately 65% and approximately 40%, respectively. Transport predictions show that, released to the environment, DBM and TGME would concentrate mostly in soils and waters with minimal impact to air. From an environmental standpoint, these results combined with the transport predictions indicate that DBM is a better choice than TGME as a diesel additive.     

Ecological Monitoring for Assessing the State of the Nearshore and Open Waters of the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement stipulates that the Governments of Canada and the United States are responsible for restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. Due to varying mandates and areas of expertise, monitoring to assess progress towards this objective is conducted by a multitude of Canadian and U.S. federal and provincial/state agencies, in cooperation with academia and regional authorities. This paper highlights selected long-term monitoring programs and discusses a number of documented ecological changes that indicate the present state of the open and nearshore waters of the Great Lakes.     

Concurrent Exposure Assessments of Atrazine and Metolachlor in the Mainstem, Major Tributaries and Small Streams of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed: Indicators of Ecological Risk

The goals of this study were to: (1) measure atrazine and metolachlor concentrations during both high and low use periods in the Chesapeake Bay's mainstem/major tributaries, smaller tributaries and representative small agricultural streams during 1995 and 1996; (2) compare these exposure data with toxicity benchmarks for each herbicide to predict ecological risk and (3) use in-stream fish community data collected in the streams to provide supportive data for ecological risk characterization. Spatially, atrazine (<0.10–98 g/L) and metolachlor (<0.10–68 g/L) concentrations were highest in the streams, followed by the small tributaries (<0.10–11 g/L atrazine; <0.10–8.6 g/L metolachlor) with the lowest concentration in the mainstem Bay/larger tributaries (<0.10–0.22 g/L atrazine; <0.10–0.24 g/L metolachlor). Temporally, concentrations of both herbicides were greatest in all three types of habitats in the late spring and early summer. Concentrations of atrazine and metolachlor were very low or non-detectable in all habitats sampled from early August to mid-April. Toxicity benchmarks of 20 g/L for atrazine based on an ecological No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) for microcosm/mesocosm studies and an acute 10th percentile of 53 g/L for metolachlor (protection of ninety % of the species) based on laboratory toxicity data were selected to assess annual and seasonal ecological risk. Both of these toxicity benchmarks were conservative estimates of ecological risk designed to protect the trophic group (plants) most sensitive to these herbicides. Based on a comparison of these toxicity benchmarks with two years of exposure data, the ecological risk from both atrazine and metolachlor exposure in the mainstem Chesapeake Bay/large tributaries, small tributaries and representative agriculturally dominated streams was generally judged to be low. During one 72-h stream rain event in 1995, the atrazine toxicity benchmark (20 g/L) was exceeded during part of the event. However, long-term permanent ecological effects are not expected based on the documented recovery potential of the most sensitive trophic group (plant communities) to the concentrations of atrazine reported and the transient nature of the atrazine pulses. Fish communities at the stream sites receiving the highest concentrations of both herbicides were judged to be healthy based on an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) developed for Maryland's coastal plain.     

Instability in a small hypereutrophic urban lake

Two summer intensive monitoring programs were conducted on a small Louisiana urban lake following restoration. Monitoring objectives were directed towards providing high resolution data needed to examine lake temporal and spatial variability. During the first year of post-restoration (1983), anaerobic conditions developed in the lake and a major fish kill (Ictalurus sp.) was observed. Total phosphorus concentrations at stations nearest the lake bottom were exceedingly high (>0.400 mg L^–1), suggesting the source of phosphorus was sediment release. Monitoring conducted in 1984 indicated the re-establishment of high benthic demand and internal nutrient recycling patterns. Mean phosphorus levels increased by more than 50% over the observed 1983 values, while dissolved oxygen concentrations demonstrated gradients from surface to bottom and were consistently below 2.0 mg L^–1 in the bottom waters.     

Applying a Large,Statewide Database to the Assessment,Stressor Diagnosis,and Restoration of Stream Fish Communities

In this report, predictions of the species that were expected to occur at stream sites were generated and probable stressors to fish species that were predicted to occur but were absent were diagnosed. Predictions were generated based on the hierarchical screening method of Smith and Powell (1971, Am. Mus. Novit. 2458, 1–30), using fish abundance in conjunction with 25 environmental variables at 895 sites. The sites were sampled throughout Maryland and represent the entire range of environmental quality from severely degraded to minimally degraded. Stressor variable values that exceeded tolerance thresholds for species that were expected to occur, but were absent, were considered to be probable stressors. This method was tested for efficacy in stream site assessments and stressor diagnosis using an independent data set. Sites that were classified as degraded according to the IBI and to non-biological criteria had fewer predicted species present compared to minimally influenced sites, indicating that the proportion of predicted species present accurately represents the biological integrity of a stream site. The nine stressors that were applied to the test data set accounted for species absences in 43.7% of degraded sites. Impervious land cover was the most common stressor identified. In addition to assessing stream biological integrity and identifying stressors to fish species, this approach also provides tolerance thresholds for predicted fish species that are useful endpoints necessary to plan effective restoration of fish species in Maryland.     

A Regional Approach to Projecting Land-Use Change and Resulting Ecological Vulnerability

This study explores ecological vulnerability to land-use change in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Region by spatially extrapolating land and economic development, and overlaying these projections with maps of sensitive ecological resources. As individual extrapolations have a high degree of uncertainty, five methods with different theoretical bases are employed. Confidence in projections is increased for counties targeted by two or more projection methods. A county is considered at risk if it currently supports three or more sensitive resources, and is projected to experience significant growth by the year 2010 by two or more methods. Analysis designated 19 counties and two cities as at risk, highlighting within a large region the priority areas where state and regional efforts would contribute the most to integrating environmental considerations into the process of land development. The study also found that potentially severe ecological effects of future land-use change are not limited to the outskirts of major urban areas. Recreational demands on smaller communities with mountain and coastal resources are also significant, as are initiatives to promote economic development in rural areas of high ecological quality. This approach provides a comprehensive overview of potential regional development, leading to an objective prioritization of high-risk areas. The intent is to inform local planning and decision-making so that regional and cumulative ecological degradation are minimized.