Long-Term Biological Monitoring of an Impaired Stream: Synthesis and Environmental Management Implications |
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Authors: | Mark J Peterson Rebecca A Efroymson S Marshall Adams |
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Institution: | (1) Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Building 1505, MS-6038, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA |
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Abstract: | The long-term ecological recovery of an impaired stream in response to an industrial facility’s pollution abatement actions
and the implications of the biological monitoring effort to environmental management is the subject of this special issue
of Environmental Management. This final article focuses on the synthesis of the biological monitoring program’s components and methods, the efficacy
of various biological monitoring techniques to environmental management, and the lessons learned from the program that might
be applicable to the design and application of other programs. The focus of the 25-year program has been on East Fork Poplar
Creek, an ecologically impaired stream in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with varied and complex stressors from a Department of Energy
facility in its headwaters. Major components of the long-term program included testing and monitoring of invertebrate and
fish toxicity, bioindicators of fish health, fish contaminant accumulation, and instream communities (including periphyton,
benthic macroinvertebrate, and fish). Key parallel components of the program include water chemistry sampling and data management.
Multiple lines of evidence suggested positive ecological responses during three major pollution abatement periods. Based on
this case study and the related literature, effective environmental management of impaired streams starts with program design
that is consistent across space and time, but also adaptable to changing conditions. The biological monitoring approaches
used for the program provided a strong basis for assessments of recovery from remedial actions, and the likely causes of impairment.
This case study provides a unique application of multidisciplinary and quantitative techniques to address multiple and complex
regulatory and programmatic goals, environmental stressors, and remedial actions. |
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