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On the CADDIS website, we refer to many other sites containing information useful in causal assessment. Several of these websites are presented below (note that this list is not comprehensive, but rather highlights some key resources).
U.S. EPA links
U.S. EPA's Stressor Identification Guidance Document leads users through the Stressor Identification process for determining the causes of stream biological impairment; the process described in CADDIS is a modification of this Stressor Identification process.
U.S. EPA's biocriteria program provides guidance and technical assistance for state and tribe water quality programs, including a Biological Assessment, Criteria and Indicators Discussion Database.
The Water Quality Standards Database (WQSDB) is being developed to display water quality standards (WQS), including designated uses and criteria, for the nation's surface waters.
Although CADDIS can be used to identify the cause of any biological impairment, it was developed specifically to support the designation of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) under the Clean Water Act. The U.S. EPA has provided extensive guidance for implementation of the TMDL process.
EnviroMapper for Water is a web-based mapping interface to U.S. EPA's geospatial data. It extends the functions of the original EPA EnviroMapper by incorporating access to the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and water program data that have been linked to the NHD. EnviroMapper for Water allows users to view different sets of map feature layers at national, regional, state, and county levels.
The "Getting in Step" module of U.S. EPA's Watershed Academy provides information on how to improve outreach and stakeholder involvement within your watershed.
U.S. EPA's Quality System for Environmental Data and Technology is used to manage the quality of environmental data collection, generation, and use, by both the U.S. EPA and other organizations. Numerous documents which may be helpful in the Stressor Identification process are available.
- Elements of Systematic Planning
- Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans [40 pp, 121 K, About PDF]
- Quality Management Tools - Data Quality Assessment
- Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans [111 pp, 401 K, About PDF]
- Guidance for Geospatial Data Quality Assurance Project Plans [106 pp, 1420 K, About PDF]
- Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans for Modeling [121 pp, 615 K, About PDF]
- QAPP Requirements for Secondary Data Research Projects [2 pp, 7 K, About PDF]
- Guidance on Systematic Planning Using the Data Quality Objectives Process [121 pp, 1.6 MB, About PDF]
- Using Data from Other Sources—A Checklist for Quality Concerns [6 pp, 141 K, About PDF]
- Guidance on Choosing a Sampling Design for Environmental Data Collection [178 pp, 1020 K, About PDF]
- Guidance on Environmental Data Verification and Data Validation [96 pp, 386 K, About PDF]
- Resources for Planning New Data Collections
AQUATOX is a simulation model that examines how pollutants (e.g., nutrients, organic compounds) may affect aquatic ecosystems.
The ECOTOX (ECOTOXicology) database provides single chemical toxicity information for aquatic and terrestrial life. ECOTOX is a useful tool for examining impacts of chemicals on the environment. Peer-reviewed literature is the primary source of information encoded in the database.
The U.S. EPA maintains a list of databases and software, which may be helpful in the Stressor Identification process.
U.S. EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is a research program focused on ecological monitoring and assessment throughout the nation. The Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (REMAP) conducts similar projects at smaller geographic scales and in shorter time frames than the national EMAP.
The Biological Indicators website has been developed in partnership with the Office of Water (OW) and the Biocriteria Program. The website serves as a repository for a vast amount of information and is focused on education on biological indicators including key concepts, coral reef biocriteria, freshwater fish and invertebrates, aquatic biodiversity, use of statistics and more. The customers of this product are wide-ranging and include federal, state, and local government agencies, academia, non-governmental environmental organizations, secondary schools, and the interested public.
U.S. EPA provides lists of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that may be used for:
U.S. EPA's Benchmark Dose Software (BMDS) may be used to model stressor response relationships. It contains 17 different models appropriate for the analysis of dichotomous (quantal) data (Gamma, Logistic, Log-Logistic, Multistage, Probit, Log-Probit, Quantal-Linear, Quantal-Quadratic, Weibull and Multistage-Cancer), continuous data (Linear, Polynomial, Power, and Hill) and nested (NLogistic, NCTR, and Rai & Van Ryzin) developmental toxicology data .
U.S. EPA's Acute-to-Chronic Estimation (ACE) with Time-Concentration-Effect Models software allows prediction of chronic toxicity from acute toxicity datasets. ACE uses linear regression and accelerated life testing to predict no-effect and low-effect concentrations for chronic mortality.
U.S. EPA's web-based Interspecies Correlation Estimation (Web-ICE) estimates the acute toxicity of a chemical to a taxon (i.e., the predicted species, genera, or family) without test data from the known toxicity of the chemical to a species with test data (the surrogate). ICE models are least square regressions between the surrogate species and the predicted taxa to estimate the toxicity of that chemical to the predicted species, genus or family.
BASINS, or Better Assessment Science Integrating point and Non-point Sources, is a multi-purpose environmental analysis system that integrates a geographical information system, national watershed data, and environmental assessment and modeling tools.
HERO, or Health & Environmental Research Online, allows you to browse key studies used by U.S. EPA in developing environmental risk assessments.
Other federal agency links
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Engineering Statistics Handbookis an electronic textbook providing background on some of the approaches described in the Data Analysis volume of CADDIS. URLs for the handbook's home page and cited sections are:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Residue-Effects Database (ERED)is a compilation of data, taken from the literature, where biological effects (e.g., reduced survival, growth, etc.) and tissue contaminant concentrations were simultaneously measured in the same organism.
StreamStats, developed by USGS, is a web-based geographic information system that provides users access to analytical tools useful for water resources planning and management (e.g., streamflow characteristics and drainage basin characteristics).
The USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, provides scientific information on environmental contamination (e.g., from excessive nutrients, organic chemicals, toxic metals, and other contaminants).
USGS' Program PeakFQis a software program that provides estimates of instantaneous annual-maximum peak flows for different recurrence intervals.
Under the USGS NAWQA (National Water-Quality Assessment) ProgramUSGS scientists collect and interpret data about surface- and ground-water chemistry, hydrology, land use, stream habitat, and aquatic life in parts or all of nearly all 50 States using a nationally consistent study design and uniform methods of sampling analysis. The Effects of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems (EUSE) study
is one component of the NAWQA Program.
Other links
Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR)maintains a website that provides links to maps indicating long-term trends in total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids for third-order and larger streams in the state of Maryland; other states may have similar resources.
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.
FishBaseis a global information system which provides taxonomic, life history, ecological and economic information for freshwater and marine fish. It was developed at the WorldFish Center in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and many other partners. Development was supported by the European Commission.
SMARTe, or Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools - electronic, is an open-source, web-based decision support system for developing and evaluating future reuse scenarios for potentially contaminated land. SMARTe contains resources and analysis tools for all aspects of the revitalization process, including community involvement.
Water on the Webis a website designed to help college and high school students solve environmental problems. It provides data from many lakes and rivers nationally, online primers, and additional supporting materials.
Ris a free software statistical software package that provides access to a broad array of analytical tools. CADStat is based on a Java Graphical User Interface to R, JGR
.
The NHDPluswebsite (supported by the U.S. EPA and USGS) provides an integrated suite of geospatial data sets that incorporate many features of the National Hydrography Dataset, the National Elevation Dataset, the National Land Cover Dataset, and the Watershed Boundary Dataset.
The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Pesticide Databaseprovides information on toxicity and regulatory information for insecticides, herbicides, and other pesticides.