Minnesota Project: Empowering water quality decisions: reducing uncertainty and

Minnesota Project

Empowering water quality decisions: reducing uncertainty and

July 2007 - June 2009

Personnel

Participating Agencies

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Impaired waters and the Total Maximum Daily Load approach are central drivers to water quality management mandated by the Clean Water Act. Water quality and ecological integrity vary across a gradient of human disturbance, but assessing how ecological integrity is affected by human disturbance is complex and requires robust indicators of ecological health. Indicators are used to quantify stream ecosystem integrity; however, uncertainty and variability of those indicators are poorly understood. We will conduct research that will aid Minnesota regulatory agencies in reducing the uncertainty and variability of indicators of stream ecosystem integrity to allow managers to make decisions based on scientific knowledge and be more defensible than current decisions. We have three objectives: (1) quantify the uncertainty surrounding stream health indicators, (2) evaluate the variability of indicators of stream health at different spatial scales, and (3) deconstruct stream health indices to understand which index metrics contribute most to uncertainty and variability at different spatial scales. Our project will advance management of stream ecological resources by aiding accurate identification of impaired streams, using existing data to understand the history of stream ecosystem integrity, and increasing efficiency with which stream ecosystem integrity is assessed and monitored.

Research Publications

Research Publications	Publication Date
Dolph, C. L., D. D. Huff, C. J. Chizinski, and B. Vondracek. 2011. Implications of community concordance for assessing stream health at three nested spatial scales in Minnesota, USA. Freshwater Biology 56(8):1652-1699. \| Abstract	July 2011	1. Fish and invertebrate assemblage data collected from 670 stream sites in Minnesota (USA) were used to calculate concordance across three nested spatial scales (statewide, ecoregion and catchment). Predictive taxa richness models, calibrated using the same data, were used to evaluate whether concordant communities exhibited similar trends in human-induced taxa loss across all three scales. Finally, we evaluated the strength of the relationship between selected environmental variables and the composition of both assemblages at all three spatial scales. 2. Significant concordance between fish and invertebrate communities occurred at the statewide scale as well as in six of seven ecoregions and 17 of the 21 major catchments. However, concordance was not consistently indicative of significant relationships between rates of fish and invertebrate taxa loss at those same scales. 3. Fish and invertebrate communities were largely associated with different environmental variables, although the composition of both communities was strongly correlated to stream size across all three scales. 4. Predictive taxa-loss models for fish assemblages were less sensitive and precise than models for invertebrate assemblages, likely because of the relatively low number of common fish taxa in our dataset. Both models, however, distinguished reference from non-reference sites. 5. The importance of concordance, geographic context and scale are discussed in relation to the design and interpretation of stream integrity indicators. In particular, our findings suggest that community concordance should not be viewed as a substitute for an evaluation of how assemblages respond to environmental stressors.
Dolph C. L., A. Sheshukov, C. J. Chizinski, B. Vondracek, and B. Wilson. 2010. The Index of Biological Integrity and the bootstrap revisited: an example from Minnesota streams. Ecological Indicators 10 (2010) 527–537.	January 2010

Presentations

Presentations	Presentation Date
Dolph, C., B. Vondracek, and J. Magner. 2011. Linking ecosystem processes to macroinvertebrate community structure in a restored stream in the Minnesota River Basin. 44th Annual meeting of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, 8-9 February, Sandstone, Minnesota. (Poster)	February 2011
Dolph, C., D. Huff, C. Chizinski, B. Vondracek. 2009. Linking changes in macroinvertebrate community composition to sources of water quality impairment in Minnesota streams. 57th Annual Meeting of the North American Benthological Society, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 17-21 May 2009.	May 2009
Dolph, C., D. Huff, C. Chizinski, B. Vondracek. 2009. Linking changes in macroinvertebrate community composition to sources of water quality impairment in Minnesota streams. 57th Annual Meeting of the North American Benthological Society, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 17-21 May 2009.	May 2009
Dolph, C. L., D. D. Huff, C. J. Chizinski, and B. Vondracek. 2010. Implications of concordance for assessing aquatic communities at three nested spatial scales in Minnesota, USA. Joint Meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and the North American Benthological Society. 6-11 June 2010. Santa Fe, New Mexico.	June 2010

Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations	Publication Date
Huff, D. D. 2010. Examining genetic diversity, outbreeding depression, and local adaptation in a native fish reintroduction program. PhD Dissertation, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota.	April 2010

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Minnesota Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources