Funding Program: Status and Trends of Biological Resources

Statement of Problem: The first goal of the Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program (BEST) is to measure and assess the effects of contaminants on selected species and habitats throughout the nation (BEST 2000). To fulfill this goal, BEST will monitor contaminants and their effects on biota at a nationally-distributed network of sites. One such network will focus on the effects of contaminants on freshwater fish from large river habitats across the continental U.S. This network will provide a characterization of the quality of the nation's large rivers in providing suitable habitat for biological resources. Large River Systems were identified as a priority for monitoring contaminants and their effects. These systems drain extensive land areas that contain a wide diversity of land-use activities, sources of contaminants, and biological habitats and species. They are indicative of the condition of the terrestrial habitat and reflective of the land use occurring in the watershed, and provide an important regional transport mechanism for contaminants. Large rivers and their associated floodplains, fluvial wetlands, and riparian habitats are biologically complex and support a very rich and diverse species assemblages. Large rivers themselves provide migration corridors, not only for fish, but also for waterbirds, shorebirds, raptors, and songbirds, and are habitat for many endangered species. By monitoring large rivers, the BEST Program provides important information to the USGS and other DOI bureaus and builds on the 25-year trend information developed as part of the NCBP.

Objectives:  The objectives for monitoring contaminants and their effects in large rivers are: 1) to provide a coarse resolution of the distribution of contaminants and effects in large rivers of the country. This information is not intended to identify specific sources of contaminants, but can be used by resource managers and biological researchers to identify regions of the country (e.g. river basins) which warrant further investigation regarding contaminant threats to biological resources. 2) to assess whether contaminants in fish, and their effects, are changing over long time scales (years), thus providing an indication of whether pollution control strategies are effective and also pointing out the emergence of new or previously unknown contaminant threats. Both of these first two objectives were also goals of the NCBP program (Jacknow et al. 1986, Johnson et al. 1967). 3) to provide critical comparative and interpretive information for scientists conducting site-specific investigations; information that is currently lacking with most of the biological effect measures. Monitoring data such as that generated by the National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP) and the National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) are used extensively for such comparisons. 4) to identify topics to be addressed through synthesis and applied research within BEST and to guide research directions in BRD. The monitoring data from the large river network will provide information that can be used to address questions such as: are contaminant effects in large rivers becoming more or less prevalent? how widespread are contaminant effects? are contaminant effects observed at a higher frequency or magnitude in particular regions of the country? are biological populations and/or habitats of importance to biota impacted by contaminants to the extent that population viability is threatened? and are the actions we have taken (as a society) adequately protective of biological resources? Addressing such questions will provide relevant information at the regional and national levels. While environmental policy decisions are often thought of as occurring at the local level, they also occur at broader scales, and capabilities for monitoring at these levels are needed (Urquhart et al. 1998, Larsen et al. 1995). The NRC (1990) identified the need for national monitoring to provide a broad context for evaluating trends, for determining the effectiveness of pollution controls, for identifying whether changes are regional or more broad, and for strengthening early-warning capabilities for detecting future problems.