U.S. EPA Office of
Research and
Development's Science
to Achieve Results
(STAR) Research in
Progress
Vol.5 Issue 1 July 2003 A product of the National Center for Environmental Research
ESTUARINE AND GREAT LAKES (EaGLe) RESEARCH
Estuaries - the transitional zones where salt water from
the sea mixes with fresh water flowing from the land -
are one of our most valuable and stressed resources.
Through Science to Achieve Results (STAR), an Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency program, five Estuarine and
Great Lakes (EaGLe) research programs were recently
established to help us understand how to better protect
these resources. The EaGLe Programs will work on de-
veloping the next generation of ecological indicators that
can be used in a comprehensive coastal monitoring pro-
gram across the country's coasts. This information will
feed into a strategy that will enable us to understand the
condition of our estuarine and coastal waters. To support
remote sensing research related to the coasts, the Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration has provided
additional funding forthree of the programs.
Estuaries are biologically diverse, highly productive eco-
systems that act as important nurseries and refuges for
numerous freshwater and marine finfish and shellfish. They
provide habitat for terrestrial wildlife. Estuaries process
nutrients and toxic substances that originate on land and
thus act as protective buffers forsensitive coastal waters.
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They also are used by many people as areas for public
enjoyment. With coastal populations increasing at a dra-
matic rate, there is a strong
need to find ways to main-
tain healthy ecosystems in
these areas.
Indicators are tools that can
be used to assess the cur-
rent and future health of the
environment by relaying
complex messages from
numerous sources in a sim-
plified and useful manner.
The EaGLe Programs will
identify and develop a new
suite of ecological and so-
cioeconomic indicators that
focus on ecosystem processes in coastal areas. Some
of these ecological indicators — such as total species
diversity, biomass, land cover and land use, net primary
productivity, and waterand nutrient discharge—describe
ecosystem health in terms of important variables includ-
ing functionality, integrity, and sustainability. Function-
ality is the ability of an eco-
system to capture solar en-
ergy via photosynthesis and
store it as carbon-based
molecules. Integrity is the
degree to which an ecosys-
tem supports a balanced
and resilient community of
organisms with processes
similar to natural habitats in
the same region.
Sustainability is the ability
of an ecosystem to main-
tain the functionality and in-
tegrity of its processes over
time. Socioeconomic indicators, such as expenditures
on wastewater treatment, can be useful in interpreting
stakeholders' attitudes on environmental risks, under-
standing institutional and jurisdictional obstacles to
change, and communicating environmental information
in a meaningful way. Ecosystem managers will use these
new ecological and socioeconomic indicators to better
assess the health of the environment, set priorities, imple-
ment appropriate actions, and evaluate outcomes.
For additional information on the STAR EaGLe Program,
visit: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/centers/eagles/.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROGRAMS
The STAR EaGLe Program is the extramural compo-
nent of EPAs Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Program (EMAP). EMAP's goal is to develop the scien-
tific understanding needed to translate environmental
monitoring data from multiple spatial and temporal scales
into assessments of ecological condition. It uses these
data to forecast future risks to the sustainability of our
natural resources. EMAP will transfer the approaches
and technology to states, which are responsible for wa-
ter-quality monitoring under the Clean Water Act. The
EaGLe Program will support EMAP's goal by develop-
ing the next generation of ecological indicators forthese
monitoring programs. To learn more about EMAP, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/emap/.
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The Estuary
INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUAL GRANTS
The Atlantic Slope Consortium
The Atlantic Slope Consortium (ASC) is led
by Pennsylvania State University. Other in-
stitutions in the consortium are the
Smithsonian Environmental Research Cen-
ter, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences,
East Carolina University, Environmental
Law Institute, and FTN Associates. Re-
searchers will study the Atlantic slope re-
gion, extending from the Appalachian
Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. This area
consists of three major drainage basins:
the Delaware, Susquehanna-Chesapeake,
andAlbemarle-Pamlico.
Emphasis is being placed on developing
and testing indicators, and constructing
models, that link conditions in upstream
watersheds to downstream estuaries. Up-
stream components of a watershed en-
compass stream reaches, riparian corri-
dors, wetlands, and waterbodies and their contributing
drainage basins. This approach is based on the premise
that coasts, estuaries, rivers, streams, lakes, and wet-
lands must be viewed as an integrated system. The con-
sortium is researching the applicability of aquatic indica-
tors, such as nutrient and sediment discharges, and the
spatial distribution of engineered structures and optical
properties of estuarine waters, across the spectrum of Pnncnrtiijm (APF-INP1
environments from best attainable to severely degraded. * '
The Atlantic Coast Environmental Indicators Consortium
sessment, and the EPA Regional Vulnerability Assess-
ment (ReVA) Program. The socioeconomic data avail-
able to the consortium includes income, employment,
health, education level, crime, water supplies, and
wastewater treatment facilities.
Atlantic Coast Environmental Indicators
A suite of socioeconomic indicators, including educa-
tion level and membership in environmentally active as-
sociations, also will be evaluated. The development of
these socioeconomic indicators builds on work already
done in the Mid-Atlantic Region under other EPA pro-
grams such as the STAR Program on Decision-Making
and Valuation, the EPA/State Mid-Atlantic Integrated As-
(ACE-INC) is led by the University of North Carolina (UNC)
at Chapel Hill. Other institutions in the consortium are
the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sci-
ence, the University of South Carolina, Marine Biological
Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and in a fed-
eral collaboration role, the National Oceanic and Atmo-
sphericAdministration (NOAA) Beaufort Laboratory.
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The consortium selected four ecologically and hydrologi-
cally diverse estuarine ecosystems as study areas. The
four estuarine systems include the Nation's two largest
estuarine complexes: the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle-
Pamlico Sound, as well as a small riverine estuary in Mas-
sachusetts and a small bar-built estuary in South Caro-
lina. The key indicators of interest are those that reflect
attributes of estuarine systems including primary produc-
tion, phytoplankton and higher plant (marsh and seagrass)
biomass and composition, zooplankton and fish commu-
nity structure, dissolved oxygen, and estuarine circulation.
The indicators will be tested fortheir applicability to estu-
aries with different primary producer bases, different bio-
geographic provinces, and similar and contrasting chem-
istry, circulation, and different freshwater flows and flush-
ing times. In addition, each of the systems has been im-
pacted in varying degrees by humans, thus affording the
opportunity to test the indicators' ability to detect and dif-
ferentiate between human and natural stresses, includ-
ing hurricanes, flooding, and changes in sea level.
Researchers also will use calibrated and ground-truthed
remote sensing and real-time observing system data to
provide a regional or coast-wide ecosystem picture.
Even more importantly, these data will allow for rapid
detection and quantification of trends in coastal health.
The Pacific Estuarine Ecosystem Indicator
Research (PEEIR) Consortium
The Pacific Estuarine Ecosystem Indicator Research
(PEEIR) Consortium is led by the Bodega Marine Labo-
ratory of the University of California at Davis, in partner-
ship with the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Collaborators include the University of Georgia, The Bay
Institute, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.
The overarching goal of PEEIR is to develop indicators of
wetland ecosystem integrity and propose an approach for
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synthesizing indicators in assessments of wetland health
along the Pacific coast. Traditional ecosystem sampling,
chemical analyses, and toxicity testing are not adequate
to address responses to multiple stressors in wetland eco-
systems. For this reason, researchers will develop new
indicators for specific plant, fish, and invertebrate popula-
tion health, as well as indicators of toxicant-induced stress
and bioavailability for wetland biota. Specific local prob-
lems, including wetland degradation and declining fish
populations in San Francisco Bay and in Southern Cali-
fornia, mercury contamination in Tomales Bay, invasions
by exotic species, and pesticide contamination in North-
ern and Southern California watersheds, will be addressed
using these biological indicators.
Scientists will use the remote sensing component of this
research to establish landscape-level indicators of envi-
ronmental stresses that can be routinely measured from
the air or space. This approach will take advantage of
high-spatial/spectral resolution instruments to better as-
sess spatiotemporal aspects of ecosystem functioning.
Other programs that can benefit from this research in-
clude the CALFED Program that manages water re-
sources in the San Francisco Bay and the upstream
Sacramento/San Joaquin systems, and the western com-
ponent of EMAP.
Consortium for Estuarine Ecoindicator
Research for the Gu If of Mexico
The College of Marine Sciences at the University of South-
ern Mississippi is leading the Consortium for Estuarine
Ecoindicator Research for the Gulf of Mexico (CEER-
GOM). Other members of the consortium are the Uni-
versity of West Florida, Florida State University, Univer-
sity of Florida, University of Alabama, Louisiana State
University, Southeastern Louisiana University, University
of Texas Marine Sciences Institute, and University of
Washington. The CEER-GOM team will be working with
coastal managers from the five Gulf states to ensure that
their research is relevant and assist in incorporating the
research results into state monitoring programs.
The primary objective of CEER-GOM is to study and vali-
date indicators of estuarine condition at four levels of bio-
logical complexity: organism, population, community, and
ecosystem/watershed. For example, at the organism level,
scientists will develop molecular indicators of dissolved oxy-
gen (DO) stress as predictive indicators of reduced animal
fitness related to molting and reproduction. At the commu-
nity level, they will study microbial biofilms and macrobenthic
communities as indicators of ecosystem integrity, resilience,
and function. At the ecosystem/watershed scale, remote
sensing will be used to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns
of ecosystem parameters such as landscape metrics, chlo-
rophyll, surface-watertemperature, and turbidity. Ultimately,
an Index of Estuarine Ecosystem Integrity (IEEI) will be de-
veloped, validated, and transferred to the states to monitor
estuarine conditions overthe long term.
Great Lakes Environmental Indicators
(GLEI) Consortium
The Great Lakes Environmental Indicators (GLEI) Con-
sortium is led by the Center for Water and the Environ-
ment in the Natural Resources Research Institute at
the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Other cooperators
include the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minne-
sota Sea Grant; University of Wisconsin-Green Bay;
the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Cornell Univer-
sity; John Carroll University; University of Michigan; and
the University of Windsor, Ontario.
GLEI researchers will be developing and testing a suite
of indicators across the range of habitats that form the
Great Lakes coastal region. To provide an understand-
ing of coastal ecosystems within the larger basin, indica-
tors will be developed that reflect the special characteris-
tics of the entire basin, coast, and land margins. For the
basin as a whole, scientists will work with climate mea-
sures, land uses, and landscape characteristics. Water-
quality contaminant levels and the relative abundances
of amphibian, bird, diatom, fish, macroinvertebrate, and
plant species and communities will be used as indicators
for estuaries, bays, and nearshore coastal waters. For
the land margins, scientists will measure the community
structure of birds. Each of these subcategories will be
linked to measures of habitat condition and other stres-
sors in the Great Lakes coastal region.
This work will be coordinated with specific resource man-
agement and assessment programs including the bina-
tional State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference
(SOLEC) and individual state programs underthe Clean
Water Act. To promote effective communication and in-
teraction with management agencies, scientists will co-
ordinate with appropriate EPA research laboratories work-
ing in the region. They also will work closely with the
Great Lakes Sea Grant network.
For more information, visit our web site at
www.epa.gov/ncer
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2000 STAR Recipients (Environmental Indicators in the Estuarine Environment Research Program)
The Great Lakes Environmental
Indicators (GLEI) Consortium
Lead Institution: University of
Minnesota Duluth; Co-Institutions:
University of Minnesota Sea Grant
Program; University of Minnesota
Twin Cities; University of Wiscon-
sin-Green Bay; the University of
Wisconsin-Madison; Cornell
University; John Carroll University;
and the University of Windsor,
Ontario.
The Pacific Estuarine Ecosys-
tem Indicator Research (PEEIR)
Consortium Lead Institution:
University of California; Co-
Institutions: University of Califor-
nia-Santa Barbara; University of
Georgia; The Bay Institute; San
Francisco Estuary Institute
Atlantic Coast Environmental
Indicators Consortium (ACE INC)
Lead Institution: University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill; Co-
Institutions: University of Maryland;
University of South Carolina,
Marine Biological Laboratory of
Woods Hole; and the NOAA-NOS
Beaufort Laboratory.
The Atlantic Slope Consortium
Lead Institution: Pennsylvania
State University; Co-Institutions:
Smithsonian Environmental
Research Center; Virginia Institute
of Marine Sciences; East Carolina
University; Environmental Law
Institute, and FTN Associates.
Consortium for Estuarine
Ecoindicator Research for the
Gulf of Mexico (CEER-GOM).
Lead Institution: University South-
ern Mississippi; Co-Institutions:
Florida State University; University
West Florida; University Florida-
Gainesville; University Alabama;
Southern Lousiana University; The
University Texas Marine Science
Institute; and the University
Washington.
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Mail Code 8701R
Washington, D.C. 20460
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
300
EPA/600/R-03/071
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