Funding Program: Fisheries:Aquatic and Endangered Resources
Statement of Problem: Biological assessments are valuable as indicators for evaluating the condition or health of streams, non-wadeable rivers, and wetlands. These assessments utilize resident biological communities such as macroinvertebrates and fish, that inhabit specific substrate and habitat types found in flowing waters. The community responses observed in macroinvertebrates reflect past and present conditions in the quality of water, sediment, and habitat. Urban watersheds in the central U.S., including the Kansas City Metropolitan area, have not been evaluated by state agencies. Further, macroinvertebrate indicators for urban streams and large rivers in the region have not been developed. In this study, macroinvertebrate sampling methods that have been developed by state agencies (in Kansas and Missouri) are being applied to numerous stream and river sites, in order to determine aquatic life use support, relative site quality, the effects of rapid development and changes in land use, and declines in water quality. Biological site quality can be an important guidance tool for stream corridor protection and management. This study will aid in the research and development of macroinvertebrate community parameters for urban streams, large rivers, wetlands, and lotic ecosystems that have been subjected to specific anthropogenic disturbances such as urban runoff, acid mine drainage, nutrient enrichment, and contaminants from various municipal and industrial effluents. Under the CERC reorganization of Basis+ projects, this subtask was formerly subtask 1.1. No additional funding was received in FY2006, FY2007, or FY2008 for bioassessment work on the Missouri River (from the Missouri Dept of Natural Resources or USEPA Region 7), however products are continuing through this research activity. This research includes sites on the Missouri River mainstem that are located from DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (River Mile 638) downstream to the mouth of the Osage River (River Mile 148). The urban stream bioassessment research in the Kansas City metro area remains active, with the following watersheds included in this research: Captain Cr, Cedar Cr., Kill Cr., Mill Cr., Little Mill Cr., Big Bull Cr., Turkey Cr., Blue R., Indian Cr., Tomahawk Cr., and Camp Branch. These streams are located in Johnson County, Kansas and Jackson County, Missouri, and make up small portions of HUC's 1027, 1029, and 1030 (see location tab for further details and more specific HUC's).
Objectives:
1) determine biological site quality for streams, rivers, and wetlands, with the use of community-level bioassessment methods for macroinvertebrates 2) provide relationships between biological indicators and water quality habitat quality, and landscape-scale parameters related to urbanization, and 3) identify new indicator metrics that have potential as response variables for evaluation of these systems