RETURN TO 1998 ROD AR INDEX
?;
UNITED STATES
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
Research Report
October 1996
600/R-96/097
New Bedford Harbor Long-Term Monitoring
Assessment Report: Baseline Sampling
SDMS DocID 56373
Lower Harbor
Outer Harbor
Sample Hexagons
0 2.5
Kilometers
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Abstract
This report describes the Long-Term Monitoring (LTM) Plan designed to assess the effectiveness of remedial
activities at the New Bedford Harbor (NBH) Superfund site in New Bedford, MA. Included in this report are an
historical overview detailing man's impacts on the harbor, the long-term plan for monitoring the remediation of the
harbor, and the initial data set collected prior to remediation to establish the current harbor conditions. This baseline
data set includes measurements of sediment physical characteristics, chemical concentrations, and biological
responses, such as benthic community analysis and sediment toxicity. In addition, data are presented describing PCB
bioaccumulation in blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) and mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus).
KEY WORDS: New Bedford Harbor, Superfund, Monitoring, PCBs, Bioaccumulation, Estuarine
pollution.
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Preface
This report describes the Long-Term Monitoring (LTM) Plan developed for the New Bedford Harbor (NBH)
Superfund site in New Bedford, MA, and the baseline data collected as part of this program. The plan was
developed by the Atlantic Ecology Division (AED), Narragansett, Rl, of EPA's National Health and Environmental
Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL). This project was initiated as a request for technical support by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, New England Division (COE-NED), Waltham, MA, and EPA's Region I, Boston, MA.
Because of AED's experience in marine monitoring programs, ecological assessments, and specific research efforts
in NBH, the COE-NED and Region 1 requested support to design and implement a state-of-the-art long-term
monitoring program to assess the effectiveness of remediation at this marine Superfund site.
The report is organized as follows: Section 1 provides a brief background of the New Bedford site, including an
historical perspective to show how the area arrived at its present condition as well as the planned remedial activities
to clean it up; Section II is an overview of the long-term monitoring plan designed to assess how effective the
clean-up is; Sections 111 and IV provide the results and a discussion of the 1993 baseline sampling effort which
established the ecological condition before remediation. Section V provides information on the electronic data.
This report describes how and why specific measurements were made, as well as interprets the data in an
understandable format. To that end, most data are displayed in a geographical information system (GIS) format
which is easy to visualize. Also, a glossary of technical terms, shown in bold letters in the text, is included at the
end of the report. References are provided for those interested in more detail concerning the information provided.
Finally, for those more technically oriented, a diskette is available that includes both the actual data and
documentation on the procedures used in the NBH-LTM. The diskette is PC-compatible and uses an interactive
Microsoft Windows® format.
This report reflects the efforts of numerous individuals. The project leader and point-of-contact at AED is Dr.
William Nelson. Other significant contributors at AED include Barbara Bergen, Sandra Benyi, Steven Rego,
George Morrison, Charles Strobel, Dr. Glen Thursby, Darryl Keith, Richard Voyer, Carol Pesch and Dr. Daniel
Campbell. Contract support for GIS and data management at AED were provided by Jane Copeland, Harry
Buffum, and Randy Comeleo of Signal Corporation. The points-of-contact for the COE-NED are Joseph Mackay,
Mark Otis, and William Hubbard. The major contractor for the COE-NED was Normandeau Associates, with
significant contributions by their sub-contractors, Inchcape Testing Services and SAIC. The EPA Region I
remedial project manager (RPM) responsible for the New Bedford Superfund Project was Gayle Garman at the
initiation of this project. This role currently is filled by David Dickerson.
The appropriate citation for this report is:
Nelson, W.G., B.J. Bergen, S.J. Benyi, G. Morrison, R.A.Voyer, C.J. Strobel, S. Rego, G. Thursby and C.E. Pesch.
1996. New Bedford Harbor Long-Term Monitoring Assessment Report: Baseline Sampling. U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory,
Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, RI. EPA/600/R-96/097
This report is NHEERL-NAR Contribution Number 1792.
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Contents
Abstract i
Preface ii
Figures v
Tables vi
Section I: Background 1
Superfund Remedial Activities 1
New Bedford - Historical Analysis of Urbanization and Ecological Effects 3
Section II: Long-Term Monitoring Program 8
Goals 8
Endpoints 8
Experimental Design 9
Section HI: 1993 Baseline Sampling Endpoints and Results 12
Sediment Sampling 12
Sediment Chemistry 12
Methods 13
Results and Discussion 13
Sediment Toxicity 16
Methods 16
Results and Discussion 16
Sediment Grain Size Distribution 18
Methods 18
Results and Discussion 18
Benthic Community Condition 18
Methods 19
Results and Discussion 19
Species Richness 19
EMAP Benthic Index 19
Benthic Community Structure 22
Bioaccumulation 23
Blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) 23
Methods 23
Results and Discussion 23
Mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) 25
Methods 25
Results and Discussion 25
in
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Section IV: Associations Between Biological Indicators and Contaminants 26
PCB and Metal Normalization 26
Trends Between Biological Endpoints and
Contaminants 27
Sediment Toxicity and Benthic Community Condition 27
Future Sampling Recommendations 29
Section V: Data Documentation 31
Data Format and Availability 31
Electronic World Wide Web (WWW) Access 31
Bibliography 32
Glossary 35
IV
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Figures
1. Upper, lower and outer harbor delineations for New Bedford Harbor and Buzzards Bay, MA 2
2. Number of ships in NBH based on clearance records (pre-1840) and registrations (1840 and later) 3
3. Changes in the New Bedford coastline during the whaling boom from a) 1800 to 1834 and b) 1834 to 1855 .... 4
4. Number of textile mills operating in New Bedford from 1850 to 1980 5
5. Population growth in New Bedford from 1840 to 1940 5
6. Impacts of industrial development and population growth on NBH including a) textile mills and their
proximity to wetlands and b) the expansion of shellfishing closures 6
7. Sampling grid for each of the harbor sections 10
8. Molecular configuration of a selected PCB 12
9. Total PCB concentrations (in ug/g dry weight) in NBH sediment 14
10. Sediment copper concentrations (in |ug/g dry wt) in upper, lower and outer harbor 15
] 1. Amphipod survival (in %) in sediment toxicity tests 17
12. Species richness in the benthic community of NBH 20
13. EMAP benthic index applied to NBH 21
14. Dominant benthic invertebrate species in NBH 22
15. Station locations for blue mussel deployments and mummichog collections 24
16. Total PCBs (as pg/g dry wt of tissue) in blue mussels at three stations in NBH 24
17. Total PCBs (as (jg/g dry wt of tissue) in mummichogs collected from NBH 25
18. Total PCBs plotted against total organic carbon in sediment for all stations in NBH 26
19. AVS normalization (divalent metals - AVS) in (jmol/g dry weight for each harbor area 27
20. Co-location of total PCBs (measured as sum of 18 congeners in ng/g dry wt) and total metals
(measured as sum of all metals analyzed in pmol/g dry weight) 27
21. Total count of benthic species by station compared to a) total PCB concentrations and b) total metals 28
22. Amphipod survival plotted against a) total PCBs and b) non-divalent metals 28
23. The EMAP benthic index plotted against amphipod survival, as a percent of control survival 29
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Tables
1. Endpoints measured in the NBH-LTM program 11
2. Average metal and total PCB concentrations (in ug/gdry wt) in the upper, lower and outer harbor
sediment. N is the number of stations in the segment 16
3. Health measures and average contaminant concentrations in compartments I, II and III 29
VI
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Section I: Background
Superfund Remedial Activities
The introduction of anthropogenic contaminants into the
environment has produced numerous hazardous waste sites
throughout the United States. These sites are located on
land and in both freshwater and marine locations, and pose
varying degrees of risk to both human health and the
environment. The worst of these areas are listed on the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National
Priorities List (NPL) for cleanup under CERCLA and
SARA (Superfund) legislation. Currently, there are more
than 1,200 Superfund sites; slightly over 200 of which
have completed remediation.
New Bedford Harbor (NBH), located in southeastern
Massachusetts, is a Superfund site currently on the NPL
primarily due to sediment contamination by polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs). In order to most effectively monitor
remedial activities in NBH, it was separated into three
segments: the upper, lower and outer harbors (Figure 1).
Sediment concentrations as high as 100,000 parts per
million (ppm) have been measured in some parts of upper
NBH. These organic compounds were manufactured for
over 40 years and used in transformers and other electronics
applications in New Bedford because of their
advantageous physical and chemical properties. While
useful in the electronics industry, subsequent human health
and ecological studies have demonstrated that PCBs have
adverse effects on plants and animals (Connolly, 1991;
Miller etal., 1991). Approximately 18,000 acres of NBH
and adjacent Buzzards Bay have been closed to commercial
and recreational fishing because PCBs have accumulated in
the food chain. Based on human health concerns and
ecological risk assessments, the decision was made to
remove PCB-contaminated sediments from the harbor.
A pilot study was initiated in 1987 to examine dredging and
disposal options for NBH contaminated sediments. The
results indicated that dredging was feasible both from an
engineering perspective (i.e., sediments could be removed
with minimal resuspension) and an environmental
perspective (i.e., remediation did not cause unacceptable
ecological damage; Nelson and Hansen, 1991). Based on
this pilot study, a Record of Decision (ROD) was signed in
1990 to remove approximately 10,000 yd3 of the most
PCB-contaminated sediment (greater than 4,000 ppm) in
the upper harbor, termed the "Hot Spot". This activity was
completed in the fall of 1995. Subsequent RODs will
describe the removal of additional PCB-contaminated
sediments from other areas of the harbor and Buzzards Bay.
The remediation of Superfund sites can be very expensive.
Therefore, it is important to assess the effectiveness of the
remediation process and to document the environmental
benefit gained for the money spent. One method for
accomplishing this is to monitor the site before and after
remediation. Because Superfund sites can be quite
different, both with respect to types of contaminants (e.g.,
PCBs, metals, dioxins) and physical characteristics (e.g.,
land, streams, estuaries), there is no all-encompassing
monitoring blueprint. However, certain elements are
characteristic of any well-designed monitoring effort. First,
specific environmental goals must be clearly articulated and
understood prior to designing an effective monitoring
program. Second, the monitoring program should provide
the information necessary for managers and/or scientists to
make site-specific assessments of whether or not the goals
were attained. Finally, the experimental design should be
both statistically rigorous to allow for quantitative
assessments and flexible enough to accommodate changes
over time. Each of these elements were incorporated into
the long-term monitoring program to assess the
effectiveness of the NBH Superfund site remediation.
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
Upper Harbor
Lower Harbor
Outer Harbor
Buzzards Bay
Figure 1. Upper, lower and outer harbor delineations for New Bedford Harbor and Buzzards Bay, MA. The hurricane barrier is
the boundary between NBH and Buzzards Bay.
2
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/: Background
New Bedford - Historical Analysis of
Urbanization and Ecological Effects
The current ecological condition of New Bedford Harbor,
or any other estuary, reflects the cumulative effects of
natural and anthropogenic impacts. This historical
assessment of the development and urbanization of the New
Bedford area offers insights into
some factors which influenced ecological changes in NBH.
It is included in this report to provide a perspective on how
the area became a Superfund site. Sources of information
used in this analysis include property surveys, U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) maps, written historical
accounts of the New Bedford area, personal interviews,
census records, and information from fishing, industrial,
public health and economic reports.
Review of the available information reveals four sequential
developmental periods, each of which exerted a distinctive
effect on estuarine conditions. During the early settlement
period (ca. 1676 to 1750), agriculture was the basis of
inhabitant employment and livelihood. Settlers in the New
Bedford area employed farming practices typically used by
Europeans throughout New England; they cleared, fenced,
and cultivated the land (Cronon, 1983). In New Bedford,
by the time of the American Revolution, a portion of the
once "noble" forest had been replaced by cornfields,
meadows and pastures (Ricketson, 1858). Timbering
probably resulted in an increase in water runoff and
erosion, with a concomitant loss of soil and nutrients.
Livestock were important to early Europeans in New
England as a food source, as work animals, and as a
marketable commodity. Records show that by 1771 settlers
along the Acushnet River owned sheep, swine, horses, oxen
and cows (Hegarthy, 1959). The close cropping feeding
behavior of these animals presumably contributed to the
erosion of soil and its nutrients.
'"he population in the area during this time period was low.
Results of a land survey indicated 11 families owned 23
parcels of land in 1690. The population has been estimated
at 500 persons in 1790 and 700 in 1795 (Ricketson, 1858).
The latter population figure, in terms of the total area of
New Bedford (ca. 19 sq. mi.), suggests that the population
density during the agricultural period probably did not
exceed 36 persons per sq. mi. Although early settlers
altered the New Bedford landscape, neither the degree nor
the significance of their impact is clear. Certainly, the low
population density ameliorated consequences due to
farming practices.
The second developmental period began with the advent of
4001
1750 1770 1790 1810 1830 1850 1870 1890 1910
Year
Figure 2. Number of ships in NBH based on clearance
records (pre-1840) and registrations (1840 and later)
(Ricketson, 1858; Tower, 1907).
the whaling industry in New Bedford. The number of
vessels using the harbor progressively increased from two
or three vessels committed to near-shore whale hunting
around 1750 to 329 involved in the international whale
trade in 1857 (Figure 2). By 1830, New Bedford had
become the world's leading whaling port and by 1845 it
was the fourth leading tonnage (vessels) district in the U.S.
behind New York, Boston and New Orleans.
As a result of this increased maritime commerce in New
Bedford, wharfs were constructed to accommodate
expanded harbor usage. An early map (Leonard), together
with a verbal description of the area (Ellis, 1892), suggest
the location of the original, pre-1800 shoreline (Figure 3a).
The number of wharfs built increased from 7 in 1807 to 19
in 1851 and significantly changed the shape of the
shoreline (Figure 3b).
Wharf construction had a direct and immediate destructive
impact on near-shore habitats. A harbor survey conducted
by Army engineers indicated that the presence of wharfs,
along with a bridge connecting New Bedford and
Fairhaven, constricted the river channel between the
mainland and Fish Island (Dutton, 1853). This survey
revealed that a portion of the ebb flow previously passing
through this channel was diverted through a second channel
east of Fish Island. This diversion resulted in increased
sedimentation in the mainland-Fish Island channel and
along the north shore of Fish Island (Figure 3b). Water that
continued to flow past the mainland was deflected to the
southeast by the presence of wharfs. As it mixed with
water passing through the channel east of Fish Island,
eddies formed and sedimentation increased on the south
shore of Fish Island. Therefore, changing water
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NBH Long-Tenn Mnnilorir.g Prograi.
A
1800-1834
H Pre-1800 Coastline U Pre-1800 Land
H 1834 Coastline • 1834 Gain in Land
A" New Bedford/Fair 0 1834 Loss in Land
Haven Bridge
1834-1855
V 1834 Coastline
H 1855 Coastline
A" New Bedford/Fair
Haven Bridge
1834 Land
1855 Gain in Land
1855 Loss in Land
Figure 3. Changes in the New Bedford coastline during the whaling boom from a) 1800 to 1834 and b) 1834 to 1855,
4
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/.- Background
40-,
150-,
1850
1970
Figure 4. Number of textile mills operating in New Bedford
from 1850 to 1980.
movements and sedimentation patterns due to whaling-
related construction projects also affected benthic habitats.
The third developmental period began with the initial
success of the WamsuttaMill (ca. 1850). The number of
textile mills in New Bedford increased dramatically after
1870 (Figure 4). Mills were constructed along the shore
north and south of the city center in areas of wetlands,
impacting virtually all of the wetland habitats on the west
shore of the Acushnet River and in Clark's Cove (Figure
6a). As the textile business expanded, the city's population
increased also, from about 20,000 in 1870 to 120,000 in
1920 (Figure 5). At the time, human wastes typically were
discharged directly into estuarine waters; therefore, the
release of sewer sludge, pathogens and nutrients to the
Acushnet River, and eventually Clark's Cove, increased
commensurate with population expansion. Because New
Bedford is situated on an ascending slope, virtually all
sewage-associated nutrients flowed into surrounding
estuarine waters. The increase in the volume of wastes
generated was sufficiently large that dredging equipment
was required to remove sludge from points of discharge
(1880 Census, 1881). Thus, in addition to the loss of
habitat and related natural resources due to the intentional
filling of wetlands, benthic habitats also were affected by
discharged sewer sludge. Also, the consumption of
contaminated shellfish led to outbreaks of typhoid fever and
the closure of shellfish beds in 1904 (Figure 6b). The loss
of this shellfishing resource is estimated to represent a total
economic activity of about $13 million (Hauge, 1988).
In the 1920s and 1930s, the collapse of the local cotton
textile industry due to mill closures and the impact of the
general economic depression of that time, affected 50% of
New Bedford's population (Wolfbein, 1968). This
1840
1860
1880 1900
Year
1920
1940
Figure 5. Population growth in New Bedford from 1840 to
1940
represented the beginning of a fourth developmental period:
fishing and industrial development. Expansion of the
fishing industry became possible with the installation of
dock-side refrigeration, and New Bedford residents
returned to the sea for their livelihood. Over time, the size
of the fishing fleet increased. Protection of this fishing
fleet was the primary factor for constructing the hurricane
barrier in 1964. This further restricted flushing rates and
altered flow patterns within the harbor. Also during this
fourth developmental period, significant economic
inducements, including relocation expenses, favorable tax
policies, and low rental fees, were offered by the city of
New Bedford to encourage businesses to move there
(Wolfbein, 1968). Additional manufacturing benefits
included a large semi-skilled and unskilled female labor
force, a comparatively low hourly wage scale, and ample
space in vacant mills. Perhaps more importantly, the
Industrial Development Division of the Board of
Commerce exhibited a favorable community attitude,
encouraging manufacturers to relocate to New Bedford.
For these reasons New Bedford was well-suited as a site for
the manufacture of "static" (e.g., capacitors, resistors,
transformers) electronic components (Estall, 1966).
Aerovox Corporation and Comell-Dubilier were two
electronic component manufacturers persuaded by the
Industrial Development Legion, successor to the Industrial
Development Division, to open factories in New Bedford.
Aerovox moved to New Bedford in 1938 (Standard Times,
June 7, 1939), followed by Comell-Dubilier in 1941
(Standard Times, March 3, 1941). Both companies
produced capacitors and were significant contributors to the
war effort. PCBs were used by these manufacturers in the
production of electronic capacitors. PCB usage in New
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
B
Shellfish Closures
1919 Coastline
1919 Textile Mil Is
1844 Wetlands
D dosed in 1904
0 Closed in 1949
d Closed in 1995
CJ Provisional in 1995
- Restricted in 1995
Figure 6. Impacts of industrial development and population growth on NBH including a) textile mills and their proximity to
wetlands and b) the expansion of shellfishing closures.
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/: Background
Bedford peaked at about 2 million pounds per year during
the years of 1973, 1974 and 1975 (Weaver, 1982). The
same properties (e.g., chemical stability and low solubility)
that make PCBs ideal for industrial use also allow them to
persist in the environment. The extensive PCB
contamination in NBH, detected in the mid 1970s, has
controlled planning, development and economic restoration
of the New Bedford area ever since.
In summary, this historical perspective documents the
conscious decisions directing the economic activities of the
New Bedford area that have had dramatic effects on its
ecological condition. One consequence of PCB use during
the fourth developmental period is severe sediment
contamination in NBH. Activities are underway currently
to remediate these sediments. The remainder of this report
describes the program designed to document how effective
remedial activities will be over time, as well as to define
baseline conditions prior to beginning the remediation.
The following section describes the 30-year NBH Long-
Term Monitoring (NBH-LTM) program that was designed
to quantify spatial (throughout the harbor) and temporal
(over time as various phases of the remediation are
completed) environmental changes as a result of remedial
activities in NBH. Specifically, it contains the goals for the
NBH monitoring program, a summary of the data necessary
to address these goals, and the experimental design used to
collect, synthesize, and present the results. Section III
provides specific examples of the baseline monitoring
results collected prior to the initiation of remedial dredging.
This is the data set against which future spatial and
temporal changes will be compared.
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
Section II: Long-Term Monitoring Program
Goals
The key to a successful monitoring program is the clear and
concise statement of the goals. This is especially important
because of the 30-year duration of this program. Once the
goals are clearly stated, the appropriate data can be
identified to address those goals.
In the case of NBH, the primary goal is to: "assess the
effectiveness of the remediation by quantifying spatial and
temporal biological and chemical changes in different
environmental compartments." A secondary goal is to
show compliance with applicable or relevant and
appropriate requirements (ARARs), a requirement at all
Superfund site remediations. In this case, two of the most
important ARARs for measuring remedial success are
water quality standards and Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) standards for PCB levels in seafood. While the
statement of these two goals may seem simplistic, it is
necessary for the selection of appropriate endpoints and
experimental design.
Endpoints
With the goals stated explicitly, the next step was to
identify the types of information required (ecological
endpoints) to address these goals quantitatively. The
approach was to first define the broad ecological areas (i.e.,
compartments) of interest in this monitoring program: the
sediment, the water column and the wetlands. Within each
compartment, specific physical, chemical, and biological
endpoints were selected and quantified. The primary focus
of this monitoring program is the sediment because it is the
main repository for PCBs and other contaminants.
Therefore, sediment concentrations of PCBs and nine
metals were quantified. Toxicity tests also were conducted
to ascertain the short-term acute effects of the sediments on
the biota. In addition, the benthic invertebrate
community was characterized to determine the longer-term
chronic effects of contaminants on the biota. Finally,
several other factors such as sediment grain size, total
organic carbon (TOC) and acid volatile sulfide (AVS)
were measured. These factors can effect chemical
availability to the biota and also are important when
interpreting the biological effects data.
A second compartment of interest is the overlying water in
NBH. While the highest PCB and metal concentrations are
in the sediments, these contaminants are present in the
water column also. They are transported to other areas of
the harbor and Buzzards Bay, and are subsequently
accumulated by organisms such as filter-feeding shellfish.
Water column concentrations can be measured directly or
indirectly. For direct measurement, a water sample is
collected and analyzed at a single point in time. However,
in NBH, water column concentrations can vary from one
day to the next and from one area to another depending on
tides and weather conditions, especially wind speed and
direction. Therefore, direct measurements are subject to
potentially large spatial and temporal variations. In
addition, water column concentrations can be very low,
requiring large volumes of water to be collected for
analysis.
One indirect method to quantify water column
concentrations is biomonitoring, in which organisms
accumulate and integrate contaminant concentrations over
time. This method has been employed extensively in other
monitoring programs (CEAS, Mussel Watch, NOAA Status
& Trends). For the NBH-LTM Program, bioaccumulation
in the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, was the method selected
to quantify PCB water column concentrations. This
approach has several advantages over direct water column
measurements. First, because mussels filter water almost
continuously, they provide an integrated assessment of
water column concentrations over time. Second, because
they accumulate PCBs in proportion to water column
concentrations, it is possible to estimate water column
concentrations from tissue residues (Bergen et al., 1993)
and compare those values with water quality standards.
Finally, mussels accumulate PCBs 100 to 1000 times that
of the water column. This improves the accuracy of low-
level contaminant quantification. Through several previous
monitoring and research efforts in NBH, an extensive data
set has been compiled on PCB accumulation in blue
mussels (Bergen et al., 1993; Nelson et al., 1995). These
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//: LTM Program
data provide a baseline so that changes in water column
concentrations resulting from remedial activities can be
assessed. The mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, was
selected as another species to quantify PCB
bioaccumulation within NBH. This fish feeds near wetland
areas, remains localized instead of migrating throughout the
estuary, and has been found to accumulate PCBs to high
concentrations within NBH.
A final compartment of concern is the wetlands. Two
aspects of the wetlands will be quantified over time:
contamination and functionality. Because only a very small
section of wetland area is scheduled for remediation,
changes are not expected to be dramatic or rapid.
Therefore, a comprehensive wetlands assessment will be
completed at 10-year intervals and compared to a baseline
assessment. This will occur as a separate wetlands survey
program and is outside the scope of this report.
Experimental Design
As stated previously, the goals of a monitoring program
should dictate the experimental design used. For this
monitoring program, the goal is to quantify spatial and
temporal biological and chemical changes in different
environmental compartments resulting from remedial
activities. Therefore, the experimental design must be
flexible enough to quantify both spatial and temporal
changes in the endpoints. In order to accomplish this, a
probabilistic sampling design was utilized. This type of
design is characterized by applying a systematic hexagonal
grid to an area to select sampling points. The result is a
design that is unbiased and statistically rigorous, meaning
it can be used to make quantitative statements about the
spatial and temporal changes within the sampling areas. A
biased sampling design, in which sampling points are
selected based on preconceived locations of problem areas,
cannot be used to make assessments of the entire area.
Because the goal of this program is to quantify changes
throughout NBH due to remediation, an unbiased sampling
design was required.
In NBH, remedial activities will not be the same throughout
the entire harbor. For example, in the area north of the
Coggeshall St. Bridge (termed the upper harbor in this
program, Figure 7) two separate remedial activities will be
conducted. The "Hot Spot" remediation, to remove PCB-
contaminated sediments with concentrations greater than
4,000 ppm, was completed in the fall of 1995. A future
remedial operation will occur to remove other contaminated
sediments in the upper harbor. The area between the
Coggeshall St. Bridge and the hurricane barrier (termed the
lower harbor in this program, Figure 7) will have a
relatively small area of sediment remediated. Likewise, the
area from the hurricane barrier to the outer closure line
(termed the outer harbor in this program, Figure 7) will
have a relatively small area remediated. Because different
remedial activities are planned within each area of the
harbor, spatial and temporal changes within each of these
areas, and the entire harbor, needed to be quantified
separately. To accomplish this, the hexagon size in the
sampling grid was adjusted to include approximately 30
stations per segment (Figure 7). This sample size allows
quantification of the areal extent and magnitude of changes
in each endpoint within each area. A full suite of endpoints
was measured at each station (Table 1).
With this programmatic framework in mind, the rest of the
report will focus on the results of the first sampling effort,
completed in the fall of 1993. These results are the
baseline against which future monitoring results will be
compared. Section III is divided into separate parts for
each of the major categories of endpoints measured. Each
provides an introduction and a brief discussion of methods
and results. In-depth analyses of these data are beyond the
scope of this report. Detailed analyses of the data will be
provided in additional peer-reviewed manuscripts. Future
sampling events will be dependent upon the ongoing
remedial activities, as well as the endpoint to be measured.
Full-scale sampling will occur before and after other major
remedial activities, or on a 3 to 5 year time frame when all
remedial activities are concluded. For example, dredging
of the "Hot Spot" was completed in the fall of 1995, at
which point a full sampling of all parameters was
conducted. The next full-scale sampling is anticipated to
occur in 1999, immediately prior to the start of the next
major dredging activity phase (ROD 2). Smaller scale
monitoring activities will occur more frequently. Because
water column concentrations are expected to change faster
than sediment concentrations, due to flushing and tidal
exchange, mussel bioaccumulation will be monitored twice
each year.
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
Upper Harbor
Lower Harbor
Sample Hexagons
Figure 7. Sampling grid for each of the harbor sections. Each section was overlaid with a grid that defined approximately 30
hexagons.
10
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//: LTM Program
Table 1. Endpoints measured in the NBH-LTM program.
Endpoint
Measured as: *
Sediment Chemistry
Bioaccumulation
acid volatile sulfide (AVS)
arsenic
cadmium
chromium
copper
mercury
nickel
lead
selenium
zinc
PCBs (18 individual congeners)
Total PCBs
total organic carbon (TOC)
blue mussel (Mytilus edulis)
mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus)
Sediment Characterization A. abdita sediment toxicity tests (acute toxicity)
grain size and texture
benthic community (chronic effects)
umol AVS/ g dry weight sediment
ug As/ g dry weight sediment
ug Cd/ g dry weight sediment
ug Cr/ g dry weight sediment
ug Cu/ g dry weight sediment
ug Hg/ g dry weight sediment
ug Ni/ g dry weight sediment
ug Pb/ g dry weight sediment
ug Se/ g dry weight sediment
ug Zn/ g dry weight sediment
ug PCB congener/ g dry weight sediment
sum of 18 PCB congener concentrations
g C /100 g dry weight sediment (%)
ug Total PCB/ g dry weight tissue
ug Total PCB/ g dry weight tissue
survival as a % of control survival
% silt/clay (< 63 urn)
% sand (> 63 urn and < 2 mm)
% gravel (> 2 mm and < 64 mm)
species richness
EMAP benthic index
species dominance
*ug/g is equivalent to ppm
11
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
Section III: 1993 Baseline Sampling Endpoints and Results
Sediment Sampling
While the procedures used to quantify individual endpoints
were different, sediment collection was identical at each of
the study's sampling sites (U.S. EPA, 1995). Sediment was
collected using a Young-modified van Veen grab
sampler (440 cm2 in surface area). At each site, numerous
grabs were collected for chemical and toxicological
analyses. Only the top 2 cm of these grabs were used in the
composite for chemical analysis in this monitoring
program, even though greater concentrations of
contaminants may have been present deeper in the
sediments. The rationale for using just the top 2 cm is that
this program is designed to quantify changes over a 30-year
time frame, especially changes resulting from remedial
activities. Because the upper 2 cm are most reflective of
current sediment concentrations, including older, deeper
sediments could produce a distorted interpretation of
current conditions. Other sediment monitoring activities in
NBH, associated with the remedial dredging activities, do
quantify concentrations at multiple depths to ensure that all
the contaminants are removed.
From each individual grab a 2-cm deep sample was
removed for AVS analysis. The remainder of the surficial
layer (top 2 cm) from each grab at a given site was
composited and homogenized. From this homogenized
composite, sub-samples were taken for chemistry (PCBs,
TOC, metals), sediment toxicity and grain size analyses.
Prior to laboratory analysis, PCB and TOC sediment
samples were kept cold (4°C), while the metals and AVS
samples were frozen. Sediment for toxicity testing was
taken from the same composite, press-sieved through a 2-
mm mesh stainless-steel screen, thoroughly homogenized,
and stored at 4°C until testing. Finally, approximately 100
ml of the composited sediment were collected and placed
in a polyethylene bag for grain size analysis.
Three additional grabs were collected at each site for
benthic community description. These grabs were a
minimum of 7 cm deep in order to be reflective of the
benthic community. Each grab was processed according to
the procedures described in Reifsteck et al. (1993). A
small core (2 cm diameter) was taken from each grab for
sediment grain size characterization, independent of the
grain size analysis for the chemistry composite described
previously. The remaining sample was sieved through a
0.5 mm screen using a backwash technique to minimize
damage to soft-bodied animals. Samples were preserved in
a buffered 10% formalin and seawater solution with rose
bengal added as a vital stain.
Sediment Chemistry
The primary goal of the remedial activities in NBH is to
remove PCBs and other col located contaminants; therefore,
quantification of these contaminants is one of the most
important aspects of the NBH-LTM program. PCBs are a
class of organic contaminants made up of 209 congeners.
Each PCB congener has one to ten chlorine atoms attached
in a unique molecular arrangement (Figure 8).
Cl
Figure 8. Molecular configuration of a selected PCB. This
specific congener (CB077) is coplanar. The position of the
chlorine atoms around the phenyl rings determines the shape
of the molecule. Each ring can have up to five chlorine atoms.
As the level of chlorination increases, the solubility of the
congener in water decreases and its particle affinity
increases. For many years, PCBs were quantified as total
Aroclor®. The term Aroclor® is a trademark used by the
Monsanto company to refer to mixtures of PCB congeners.
Depending upon the analytical method used to quantify
Aroclors, specifically, which chromatographic peaks are
selected to represent the Aroclor® mixture, different
laboratories could analyze the same sample and get highly
12
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///. Baseline Sampling
variable concentrations. In contrast, congener-specific
analysis is more accurate because standards for single
congeners can be made easily and standard reference
materials with congener-specific totals are readily available
for quality assurance purposes. For this reason, the
sediments in the NBH-LTM program were analyzed for 18
of the 209 PCB congeners, rather than Aroclor® content.
In addition to measuring PCBs, the TOC in the sediment
was quantified because it can affect the availability of
organic compounds, such as PCBs, to biota (Connell,
1990). The organic carbon in sediment can bind chemicals,
thus making the chemicals inert to organisms. For
example, sediment A and sediment B can have exactly the
same total PCB concentration. However, if sediment A had
high TOC concentrations and sediment B had low TOC
concentrations, organisms in sediment B would be exposed
to more PCBs. One procedure to determine the amount of
PCBs actually available to an organism is to normalize
them to TOC content.
Although sediment PCB concentrations are the primary
source of concern in NBH, metals are present in high
concentratrations in some areas of NBH. Because one goal
of the remediation is to remove these collocated
contaminants, sediments were analyzed for metals also.
Nine metals were selected for analysis including: copper,
cadmium, lead, zinc, arsenic, selenium, mercury, chromium
and nickel. Although not all of these metals are present in
high concentrations in NBH, they were quantified because
there are existing water quality criteria for each of them.
In addition to these nine metals, sediment samples were
analyzed for AVS content. Like TOC for PCBs, the
bioavailability of divalent metals is controlled, in part, by
the amount of AVS in the sediment.
Methods
For PCB analysis, approximately 1 g of sediment was
extracted with acetone and methylene chloride. Extracts
were solvent-exchanged to hexane and analyzed on a gas
chromatograph. Extracts were analyzed for 18 individual
PCB congeners. Total PCB concentrations were calculated
as the sum of these 18 congeners. As part of this analysis,
a second gram of sediment was weighed, dried and weighed
again to determine moisture content. The analysis of TOC
consisted of first removing the inorganic carbon from
carbonates and bicarbonates by acid treatment. Organic
compounds then were broken down by burning in the
presence of oxygen or air and the resultant carbon dioxide
measured by direct non-dispersive infrared detection.
Sediments were analyzed for metal concentrations by
sonicating a mixture of approximately 5 g of sediment and
2M nitric acid. The resultant extract was brought to volume
and analyzed on an inductively coupled plasma spectro-
photometer (ICP) or an atomic absorption spectro-
photometer (AA) as necessary. Total metals, used for
comparison with biological responses, is defined as the
molar sum of all metals measured (using the 2M nitric acid
extraction). A sum of divalent metals was calculated to
estimate bioavailable metals. The metals included in this
calculation were Ni, Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and Hg. Because a
weaker acid is used for the total metal extraction than for
traditional metal extractions, the metal concentrations are
more indicative of anthropogenic inputs and exclude metals
in the mineral portions of the sediment.
AVS was quantified as the amount of sulfide released upon
extraction of the sediment with a cold 1M hydrochloric acid
(HC1) solution. The sulfide liberated in this process was
trapped and measured with a sulfide-specific electrode.
Results and Discussion
In general, total PCB concentrations decreased along a
gradient from the upper to the outer harbor (Figure 9), with
sediment concentrations ranging from a high of 431 pg/g in
the upper harbor to 0.02 pg/g in the outer harbor. The
organic carbon in the sediments ranged from a high of 13%
in the upper harbor to a low of 0.16% in the outer harbor.
Metal concentrations generally decreased from the upper to
the outer harbor; however, the gradient was not as distinct
as the one observed for total PCBs (Table 2). For example,
sediment copper concentrations were elevated in the upper
harbor near the cove located to the north and west of the
Coggeshall St. Bridge, while in the lower harbor, copper
was elevated near several industries, Popes Island and
several marinas (Figure 10). AVS was variable throughout
the harbor, although the highest concentrations were found
in the upper and lower harbors (112 pmol/g) and the lowest
concentrations (0.1 pmol/g) were observed in the outer
harbor.
13
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
UPPER
0 250 500
Meters
LOWER
0 500 1000
Melrrs
OUTER
O 25OQ 5000
Meters
Total PCB Concentrations
(ug/gdry wt)
> 100
51-100
11-50
1-10
< 1
Figure 9. Total PCB concentrations (in (jg/g dry weight) in NBH sediment. Total PCBs are the sum of the 18 individual
congeners analyzed.
14
-------
///: Baseline Sampling
UPPER
0 250 500
LOWER
0 500 1000
Meters
OUTER
0 2500 5000
Meter*
Copper Concentrations
(ug/g dry wt)
> 1000
501-1000
101 -500
11-100
< 10
Figure 10. Sediment copper concentrations (in ug/g dry wt) in upper, lower and outer harbor.
15
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
Table 2. Average metal and total PCB concentrations (in
ug/gdry wt) in the upper, lower and outer harbor sediment. N is
the number of stations in the segment.
Average
Concentrations
(ug/g dry wt)
Metals
As
Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Ni
Pb
Se
Zn
Total PCBs
Upper
Harbor
N=27
5.2
67
310
630
0.43
34
270
0.32
630
44
Lower
Harbor
N=27
5.3
12
190
450
0.40
11
130
0.42
260
8.2
Outer
Harbor
N=23
3.1
0.28
19
19
0.07
5.3
18
0.23
42
0.83
Sediment Toxicity
Sediment toxicity tests are often used in ecological and
contaminant assessments, and in monitoring programs,
because they integrate the biological effects of complex
mixtures. Laboratory toxicity tests have gained wide
acceptance and become an essential component of
programs designed to establish relationships between
chemical contamination and ecological effects (Swartz,
1987). Finally, sediment toxicity testing can be used to
augment chemical analyses which are unable to address
issues of bioavailability due to chemical-to-chemical
interactions and the absorption affinities of sediment
particles (U.S.EPA, 1989).
The euryhaline benthic amphipod, Ampelisca abdita, the
test species for this project, has been used routinely for
sediment toxicity tests in support of numerous EPA
programs. It ranges from Newfoundland to Florida and the
Gulf of Mexico. This tube-dwelling amphipod constructs a
soft, upright, membranous tube 3 to 4 cm long in fine-
grained sediments, from the intertidal zone to a water depth
of 60 meters. A. abdita ingest either surface-deposited
particles or particles in suspension, and respire overlying
and interstitial waters. It is a sensitive species and has
formed the toxicological basis for EPA research on the
availability of metals in relation to AVS in marine
sediments (Di Toro et al., 1990). A. abdita was the first
species used to demonstrate the toxicity of sediments from
NBH, and subsequently was used to assess the
effectiveness of capping procedures as part of the Pilot
Dredging Project on-site remediation techniques (Otis and
Averett, 1988). Thus, it is appropriate that this species be
used during the NBH-LTM as one of the indicators to
assess the effectiveness of remedial activities.
Methods
Sediments were added to exposure chambers one day
before the amphipods. The exposure chambers were 1-L
canning jars with an inverted glass dish as a cover. Two
hundred ml of control or NBH sediment were placed in the
bottom of each of five replicates per sediment sample and
covered with approximately 600 ml of seawater. Aeration
and lighting were continuous during the 10-day test.
Twenty subadult amphipods (passing through a 1.0 mm,
but retained on a 0.71 mm screen) were added randomly to
each replicate chamber. Following EPA procedures (U.S.
EPA, 1994), amphipods were exposed to test sediments for
10 days under static conditions. Salinity ranged from 30 to
35 parts per thousand (ppt) and temperature was maintained
at 20 ± 1°C. In addition to NBH sediments, additional
performance control sediments were used to assess the
survival of amphipods under a set of standardized
conditions.
Results and Discussion
A total of 77 sediment samples (27 from both the upper and
lower harbors, and 23 from the outer harbor) were tested
with A. abdita. The samples were divided among five
different test series, each with its own performance control
with Long Island Sound sediment. By measuring survival
relative to a control treatment, non-contaminant effects can
be separated from contaminant effects. The amphipod
survival in performance control sediments for the five tests
ranged from 89 to 99%. Because survival in the NBH
samples was examined relative to control treatments, it is
possible to have percent survival numbers greater than
100%. For example, if control survival was 95% and
survival in a NBH sample was 100% then the sample
survival would be 105% (100/95). The U.S. EPA's
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program
(EMAP) considers sediments with survival less than 80%
to be toxic, and less than 60% to be very toxic (Strobel et
al., 1995). Samples with survival less than 10% are so
poisonous that there is no way to tell exactly how bad they
are without diluting and re-testing them. Survival for
animals exposed to the 77 NBH samples ranged from 0 to
109% of the control. Thirty-four samples (approximately
45%) had survival less than or equal to 80% of the
performance control survival. Twenty-two (approximately
30%) samples had survival less than or equal to 60% of the
performance control. All except one sample considered to
be toxic or very toxic were confined to either the upper or
lower harbor (Figure 11). Average percentage survival for
the upper and lower harbors was similar at 55% and 66%,
16
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///: Baseline Sampling
UPPER
0 250 SOO
Meters
LOWER
0 500 loon
Mntera
OUTER
*.
O 250(1 MWO
Meters
Sediment Toxicity
(% survival)
< 60
60-80
> 80
Figure 11. Amphipod survival (in %) in sediment toxicity tests. Survival greater than 80% indicates a non-toxic sediment.
17
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
respectively. Overall survival for amphipods exposed to
outer harbor sediments was 91 %. It should be noted again
that amphipod survival is a function of the cumulative
effect of all the contaminants in the sediment mixture, and
cannot be linked to a specific contaminant.
Sediment Grain Size Distribution
Sediment grain size was measured because it is one factor
that can affect the benthic community, both with respect to
chemical availability and physical habitat. For example,
the benthic community in an area composed entirely of
silt/clay would be different from one composed of coarse
sand. Therefore, grain size information assists in the
interpretation of benthic community data.
Geologically, NBH forms part of the drowned valley of the
Acushnet River. The sediments are primarily the
weathering products of local metamorphic rocks which
overlay bedrock and glacial till (Summerhayes et al., 1985).
The sediments were categorized as gravel (>2 mm), sand
(>63 |am and < 2 mm) and silt/clay (<63 urn). Previous
investigations indicate that sediments with high silt/clay
and low sand content cover the floor of NBH, Clark's Cove
and Apponaganset Bay. The outer harbor area in Buzzards
Bay consists primarily of sands and gravels with the
remains of the gastropod, Crepidula fornicata
(Summerhayes et al., 1985) covering topographic ridges
and shoals ( Ellis et al., 1977).
Methods
Laboratory analyses were conducted in a two-phase process
(U.S.EPA, 1995). First, the silt/clay fraction was separated
from the rest of the sediment using wet-sieving and pipette
analytical techniques. Shell fragments and organic debris
larger than 1 mm were removed prior to this analysis.
Next, sediments were classified by their size distribution to
determine the relative proportions of gravel, sand and
silt/clay.
Results and Discussion
The upper harbor is composed primarily of fine-grained
sediments with high silt/clay content. These sediments
consist of 40-80% silt/clay, which is expected because the
upper harbor is a relatively shallow depositional area.
Several exceptions occur along the banks of the Acushnet
River where isolated areas have more sandy sediment, and
near the Coggeshall St. Bridge where fast currents scour the
bottom resulting in a gravelly sediment.
The sediment distribution of the lower harbor is more
complex. Silt/clay sediments are associated with shallow
areas (less than 3 m in water depth) along the northeast and
southwest shorelines and contain relatively high silt/clay
contents (40 to greater than 80%). Sands (ranging in
composition from 60 to greater than 80%) become
predominant in the vicinity of the Coggeshall St. Bridge,
along the New Bedford Reach of the navigation channel
below the Coggeshall St. Bridge, and in water depths
greater than 10 m between Popes Island and the Hurricane
Barrier.
The outer harbor in Buzzards Bay deeper than 10 m
consists of sediments with high silt/clay content. The Fort
Phoenix Reach area of the navigation channel and
Fairhaven Shoals are generally sandy. Gravelly sediments
are found primarily in the vicinity of the Clark's Point
outfall.
Benthic Community Condition
Another important component of the NBH-LTM Program
is the evaluation of benthic invertebrate community
condition. Benthic invertebrate assemblages are composed
of diverse organisms with a variety of reproductive modes,
feeding types, life-history characteristics, and physiological
tolerances to environmental conditions (Warwick, 1980;
Bilyard, 1987). These organisms have limited mobility and
live in direct contact with the sediment and pore water.
Therefore, unlike short-term acute laboratory bioassays,
benthic community condition is an integrator of multiple
chronic stresses in the field, some of which (e.g., hypoxia)
are not coupled directly to sediment chemical analyses.
Previous studies have demonstrated that benthic community
condition is a reasonable and effective indicator of the
extent and magnitude of pollution impacts in estuarine
environments (Bilyard, 1987; Holland et al., 1988, 1989).
In addition, benthic infaunal invertebrates are a critical
link in the aquatic food chain. They serve as food for a
wide variety of fish species and larger benthic epifaunal
invertebrates, such as lobster and crab. This report
discusses three benthic community endpoints: species
richness, EMAP index of benthic community condition,
and community structure.
Species richness is the total number of species at each
station. It can be used to assess benthic conditions in areas
where environmental conditions are similar. NBH is a
relatively small estuary with only slight salinity and
temperature gradients from the upper to outer harbor. For
this reason, species richness can be used to evaluate
differences between each section of NBH.
18
-------
A second endpoint, the EMAP benthic index, integrates
several individual measures of the benthic community into
a single value which discriminates between good and poor
benthic conditions (Strobel et ai, 1995). Index values less
than zero indicate that the benthic community is poor or
degraded, while values greater than zero indicate a good or
healthy community structure.
A third endpoint, community structure, uses species
composition and species dominance to provide insight into
environmental conditions. For example, in mature,
unimpacted systems competitive interactions result in
high species diversity and an even distribution of the most
abundant species (Odum, 1969). Community structure is
determined by interactions among all organisms and, in a
healthy community, those interactions are generally
density-dependent. Stressed ecosystems display relatively
low species diversity and few dominant species. In spite of
the chemical or physical conditions, those species that are
stress-tolerant and can thrive and reproduce quickly will
become dominant (Odum, 1969).
The benthic community is also affected by salinity and
grain size. NBH has a limited salinity range (28 to 30 ppt).
Also, the average percent silt/clay (< 63 um) for the three
segments was not statistically different; 47% in the upper
harbor, 39% in the lower harbor, and 42% in the outer
harbor. Because salinity and grain size do not vary much,
benthic community comparisons are considered valid.
Methods
In the laboratory, macrobenthos were sorted, identified to
lowest practical taxonomic level (generally species), and
counted. Biomass, measured as shell-free dry weight after
drying at 60°C, was calculated for key taxa; all other taxa
were grouped by taxonomic type (e.g., polychaetes,
amphipods, decapods). A complete description of the
methods can be found in the EMAP Laboratory Methods
Manual (U.S. EPA, 1995). All analyses and sample
collections were performed in accordance with a strict
Quality Assurance/ Quality Control program (Valente and
Strobel, 1993).
Results and Discussion
Species Richness
The number of species per station (i.e., from all grabs
collected per station) ranged from 10 in the upper harbor to
116 in the outer harbor. Species richness is presented in
Figure 12. Although the groupings are arbitrary and not
intended to portray ecological significance, the figure
illustrates a clear gradient in species richness in NBH:
///: Baseline Sampling
lowest in the upper harbor (20 ± 7 species per station
[average ± standard deviation]), intermediate (31 ± 14) in
the lower harbor and highest in the outer harbor (72 ± 21).
Using Student's t-testfor unequal variances, the values for
these areas are statistically different (p < 0.001).
EMAP Benthic Index
One endpoint used to quantitatively assess benthic
community health is the EMAP benthic index. A positive
benthic index value indicates a healthy community while a
negative value indicates a disturbed community, either by
natural (e.g., scouring) or anthropogenic stresses. Figure
13 shows the upper harbor to be highly impacted, with an
average benthic index value of-5.7 (range of-25.7 to -0.2).
The lower harbor is also classified as degraded with an
average benthic index value of -1.4 (range of -4.3 to -0.3).
Only two stations in the outer harbor are classified as
impacted, with an average benthic index value of 1.9 (range
of -0.2 to 4.8). For comparative purposes, an evaluation of
the EMAP data set for the Virginian Province (i.e., all
estuaries, bays and tidal rivers from Cape Cod south to the
mouth of Chesapeake Bay) shows the lowest one percentile
to have an index value of -2.7. This means that only 1 % of
the entire Virginian Province area had a benthic index
value below -2.7, indicating that the upper harbor, and to a
lesser extent the lower, are extremely impacted.
There is generally good agreement between species
richness and benthic index values. One exception occurred
at a lower harbor station which had a relatively high species
richness value (53 species) and a low benthic index value
(-3.6). The low benthic index value was due to the high
abundance of spionid polychaetes, which are generally
indicative of an impacted community. Their presense has
the effect of lowering the overall benthic index value. The
dominant species at this station was the opportunistic
spionid, Streblospio benedicti, which was also the
dominant species in the upper harbor (Figure 14). This
species is frequently associated with eutrophic conditions
(Weisberg, et al., 1994); however, the sediment at this
station (8% silt/clay, TOC content 1.6%) did not exhibit the
characteristics usually present in eutrophic areas (i.e., high
silt/clay and TOC).
Benthic Community Structure
Descriptions of the benthic community include species-
level parameters (abundance and biomass), and population-
level parameters (species composition and dominance).
Total benthic abundance was highly variable in individual
grabs for NBH. Total abundance (count of each animal of
every species, summed for all grabs) by station ranged from
19
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NBHLong-Term Monitoring Program
UPPER
0 250 50O
Meters
LOWER
O 500 1OOO
MelfH
OUTER
Species Richness
(# of species)
0-25
26-50
51 -75
> 75
Figure 12. Species richness in the benthic community of NBH. Generally, areas with a high species richness, (i.e. that are
more diverse) are healthier.
20
-------
///; Baseline Sampling
UPPER
0 250 500
Meters
LOWER
O 5OO 1000
OUTER
+JMJM
0 2500 SOOO
Meters
Benthic Index
<-2.7
-2.7-0.0
> 0.0
Figure 13. EMAP benthic index applied to NBH. A positive benthic index indicates a non-degraded benthic community; a
negative benthic index indicates a degraded benthic community.
21
-------
NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
a low of 154 animals to a high of 18,380 animals. Total
abundances by station averaged for the upper, lower and
outer harbors were similar with 3612, 2435, and 2295
animals, respectively. Abundance by itself is not an
indicator of benthic community health; however, it can be
used in conjunction with species composition to provide
insights into community stability.
Dominant benthic species were classified in the upper,
lower and outer harbor by identifying those species that
collectively account for 75% of the total abundance of each
benthic community. The presence of many dominant
species of relatively uniform abundances suggests the
community is near its carrying capacity, is stable, and is
relatively unimpacted. In contrast, impacted areas typically
have few dominant species which are opportunistic (small,
fast-growing organisms) and tolerant of the contaminants
present. In the upper harbor, only 3 species were dominant
while in the outer harbor, 16 species were dominant (Figure
14). The upper harbor was dominated by the opportunists,
Streblospio benedicti, a spionid polychaete, and Mulinia
lateralis and Gemma gemma, both veneroid mollusks.
Only moderate numbers of opportunistic species were
identified in the lower harbor, which appeared to be a mix
between the upper and outer harbors. S. benedicti, the most
abundant species in the upper harbor, averaged 565 animals
for upper harbor stations, whereas, ostracods, most
numerous in the outer harbor, averaged 71 animals for
outer harbor stations.
The upper harbor displays symptoms of a stressed
ecosystem based on the opportunistic qualities of the
species, the low species diversity, and the low number of
dominant species. The lower harbor has slightly greater
diversity than the upper harbor and more dominant species,
indicating it is less impacted than the upper harbor. In
contrast, the outer harbor has a dramatically higher
diversity and more evenly distributed species abundances,
indicating a healthier ecosystem.
Upper
Lower
Streblospio
benadicti
Outer
Mulinia lateralis
Gemma gemma
Mulinia lateralis
Streblospio benedicti
Oligochaeta
Msdiomastus ambiseta
Mercenaria marcenaria
Ostracoda
Oligochaeta
Medtomastus ambiseta
Haminoea solitaria
Nucula proxima
Tellinidae
Ancidea catharinae
Crepidula fomicata
Macoma tenta
Jbaryx acutus
Scolelepis texana
Nephtys incisa
Odostomia seminuda
Mulinia lateralis
Cirratuiidae
Parapionosyllis longicirrata
400
500
600
Abundance (avg. grab/station)
Figure 14. Dominant benthic invertebrate species in NBH. Abundances are averaged by grab for each station, then averaged
for each harbor segment.
22
-------
///: Baseline Sampling
In summary, all three measures of benthic invertebrate
community condition indicate that the benthic community
of the highly contaminated upper harbor is degraded. This
benthic community had low species richness, a negative
EMAP benthic index and was dominated by opportunistic
species. The benthic community in the lower harbor,
although less degraded than that of the upper harbor, was
also significantly impacted. Opportunistic species
dominated in the lower harbor, however, in lower numbers
than the upper harbor, and species richness was higher.
Lastly, with a few exceptions, the outer harbor benthic
community can generally be classified as healthy, based on
the high species richness, positive EMAP benthic index
value, and even distribution of the dominant species.
Bioaccumulation
Blue mussels (Mytilus edulis)
Quantifying changes in the sediment (i.e., chemical
concentrations, toxicity, and benthic community) fulfills
one aspect of assessing the effectiveness of remedial
activities in NBH. However, contaminants present in the
water column can be transported to other areas and also can
be incorporated into the food chain. Therefore, a second
important objective is to document that reduced PCB
sediment concentrations result in reduced water column
concentrations. While quantifying PCB water column
concentrations throughout NBH is possible, it would
require large water volumes and many expensive analyses.
Also, one-time sampling events are not always sufficient to
encompass all the variability inherent in a dynamic
estuarine system like NBH; water PCB concentrations are
affected by tides and weather events (e.g., wind, storms).
An alternative approach is to use organisms to provide this
information.
Filter-feeding bivalves (e.g., mussels, oysters) "sample" the
water column almost constantly, thus integrating the effects
of tides and weather. Because of this, blue mussels have
been used extensively to quantify chemical pollution
(Arimoto, 1981; Farrington, 1983; Rice and White, 1987;
Tanabe et al., 1987; VanderOost et al., 1988). In addition,
a previous study in NBH demonstrated a good correlation
between PCB water column concentrations and blue mussel
tissue residue concentrations (Bergen et al., 1993). Finally,
research conducted with blue mussels in NBH by AED
scientists since 1987 shows a relatively constant
bioaccumulation rate of PCBs over that time period. This
provides an excellent comparative data set to assess future
measurements. Based on all these factors, blue mussels
were selected to measure PCB concentrations in the water
column at several locations in NBH.
Methods
Detailed methods for collecting and deploying blue mussels
are found in Nelson and Gleason (1995). Briefly,
uncontaminated mussels were collected from East
Sandwich, MA, and placed in polyethylene mesh bags.
Four independent replicate bags of mussels were deployed
1 meter above the bottom at three sites: Coggeshall St.
Bridge (NBH-2), at the boundary between the upper and
lower harbor; Hurricane Barrier (NBH-4), at the boundary
between the lower and the outer harbor (Buzzards Bay);
and West Island (NBH-5), a reference site in Buzzards Bay
(Figure 15). After 28 days, the mussels were retrieved and
frozen. Prior to analysis, mussels were thawed, shucked
and homogenized. Two grams of the homogenate were
extracted with acetonitrile and pentane, solvent-exchanged
to hexane and analyzed by gas chromatography for the
same 18 PCB congeners quantified in the sediments
(Bergen et al., 1993).
Results and Discussion
Total PCBs in the blue mussel tissue for all three stations
are shown in Figure 16. The December 1993 and May
1994 deployments are part of the NBH-LTM program.
Mussel deployments at this site for the last four years show
no significant difference in mussel PCB tissue residues.
Some increases in PCB concentration are seen in the spring
and early summer as mussels increase their gonadal tissue
(and lipid content) prior to spawning. However, this same
seasonal variability was observed at all three stations,
including the West Island reference site.
9-JUI-93
1-Dec-93 23-May-94
Figure 16. Total PCBs (as ug/g dry wt of tissue) in blue
mussels at three stations in NBH The bars represent the
average concentration of four replicates, the line represents the
standard deviation.
23
-------
NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
N
Coggeshall St
Bridge
Sampling Sites
I Mussel Stations
• Fish Stations
Figure 15. Station locations for blue mussel deployments and mummichog collections.
24
-------
///: Baseline Sampling
Mussel deployments will continue twice a year (April and
October) at all three stations as part of the NBH-LTM
program. These data will be used to compare reductions in
sediment PCB concentrations due to remediation to
corresponding changes in seawater and mussel tissue.
Mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus)
Tissue PCB concentrations of indigenous mummichogs
(Fundulus heteroclitus) were examined because they feed
at least partially on material coming from the wetlands and
spend their life cycle in a relatively small area.
Mummichogs primarily scavenge on the bottom of marsh
edges and shoreline and reportedly overwinter in the mud.
Gut content examinations have revealed detritus, small
Crustacea and sand grains in their digestive tract, showing
their close ties with the sediment (Bigelow and Schroeder,
1953).
Methods
In June 1994, four mummichog traps were deployed at each
of three sites in NBH and one reference site: Station 1, near
the Hot Spot; Station 2, north of Coggeshall St. Bridge;
Station 4, near Popes Island; and Station 5, at West Island
(Figure 17). Mummichogs were collected and whole fish
homogenized for analysis. Approximately 2 g of tissue
were extracted with acetonitrile and pentane, solvent-
exchanged to hexane and analyzed by gas chromatography
for the same 18 congeners quantified in the sediment and
mussels. In addition to this suite of 18 PCB congeners,
mummichogs were analyzed for coplanar congeners
CB077, CB126 and CB169. This required an additional
split of the extract on a carbon column before analysis on
the gas chromatograph.
Results and Discussion
Mummichog tissue concentrations are shown in Figure 17.
Variability was high among replicates within a station;
however, there was a dramatic decreasing gradient (two
orders of magnitude) in total PCB concentration from the
Hot Spot to West Island. Coplanar PCB congeners lack
ortho substitution on the biphenyl rings. This allows the
two rings to move into one plane. While present in low
levels, these congeners are particularly toxic (Safe, 1984)
and may bioaccumulate in some organisms to higher levels
than non-planar congeners (Kannan et al., 1989). All three
of the coplanar congeners quantified decreased in
concentration by two orders of magnitude from the Hot
Spot to West Island. Mummichogs will continue to be
collected at these sites every spring to determine whether
reduced sediment PCB concentrations result in reduced
tissue concentrations of an indigenous fish.
400 n
Station 1
Station 2
Station 4
Station 5
Figure 17. Total PCBs (as ug/g dry wt of tissue) in
mummichogs collected from NBH. Bars represent an average
of four homogenates, with the exception of Station 4. Station 4
is a single homogenate. Vertical lines represent one standard
deviation.
25
-------
NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
Section IV: Associations Between Biological Indicators and Contaminants
The condition of an estuarine ecosystem is the result of
complex interactions between the physical, chemical and
biological components of the system. Based on the data
from a series of individual measurements, NBH is a
highly stressed estuary. This section of the report will
examine relationships between these individual
measurements in order to better assess the overall
ecological condition of NBH. For example, studies
referenced in an earlier section suggest that TOC affects
PCB availability, which in turn may affect the number of
species in the benthic community. However, in NBH, do
TOC-normalized PCB concentrations relate better to
benthic community indices than total PCB
concentrations? If not, what other factors are
contributing to the observed effects? Examination of
these relationships will provide a better understanding of
the current conditions in NBH.
PCB and Metal Normalization
The interpretation of contaminant data is complicated.
Various sediment components, such as the amount of
TOC or the presence of AVS, influence the availability
of contaminants to benthic biota. As stated previously,
PCBs have a high affinity for TOC. Therefore, PCBs in
high TOC sediments are less available to cause harm to
or accumulate in organisms than PCBs in low TOC
sediments. Consequently, PCB concentrations in
sediments should be normalized to TOC before
comparisons are made between PCB concentrations and
biological endpoints. However, in NBH the relationship
between biological endpoints and PCBs was equivalent
whether or not the PCB concentration was normalized to
TOC.
There are two probable reasons for this observation.
First, any effect of TOC on the availability of PCBs is
overshadowed by the magnitude of PCB contamination
in the upper and lower harbors. Second, PCBs and TOC
covary (Figure 18). In areas where total PCB
concentrations are high, TOC is also high, and
conversely, where PCB concentrations are low, TOC is
low. Because trends between the biological endpoints
and PCBs are essentially the same whether or not PCBs
are normalized, we chose not to use the TOC-normalized
PCBs in the graphical presentation of the biological
endpoints.
1,000 -i
100-
o>
O)
CD
O
CL
10-
1 -
0.1 -
0.01
—I—
12
15
Total Organic Carbon (%)
Figure 18. Total PCBs plotted against total organic carbon
in sediment for all stations in NBH.
The bioavailability of metals in sediment is important to
understanding the ecological effects of metals. An
organism's response may or may not be related to total
metal concentrations. AVS in sediments binds with
divalent metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn and Hg) in a 1:1
molar ratio with the bound metal-AVS complex being
biologically unavailable (DiToro, et al. 1990). In this
report, normalizing for AVS was done by subtracting the
AVS concentration from the sum of divalent metals, both
as molar concentrations (Figure 19). Therefore, when the
resulting value is negative (i.e., there is more AVS than
sum of divalent metals), the sediment should be non-
toxic. When metals are in excess, the sediments are
potentially toxic. The area with the most stations
containing excess metals is the upper harbor.
Importantly, the metal concentrations used in these
calculations were the sum of divalent metal
concentrations taken from the total metal extraction (2M
26
-------
IV: Associations
Lower
Outer
100 g
-120J
Figure 19. AVS normalization (divalent metals - AVS) in umol/g
dry weight for each harbor area. A dot represents a single
station. The alacement on the horizontal axis is relative to the
station's placement in the harbor, but for this purpose it serves
only to separate the data
nitric acid). Simultaneously extracted metals (SEM) are
usually compared with AVS; SEM is the sum of divalent
metals from the AVS extraction (1M hydrochloric acid).
The concentration of metals from this study should be
equal to or greater than SEM because a stronger acid
extraction was used than is typical for SEM. Because of
this, it is likely that even fewer stations shown in Figure
19 would have available divalent metals.
Normalizing metals with AVS is most often done in
conjunction with acute toxicity data (e.g., amphipod
survival). Because the data suggest divalent metals may
not be biologically available at most stations, only the
non-divalent metals (As, Se, Cr) were included in the
graphical presentation of the acute toxicity data.
However, comparison of the chronic biological endpoint,
species richness, was completed using total metals
because this is more reflective of what would occur under
field conditions.
Trends Between Biological Endpoints and
Contaminants
Comparisons were made between field and laboratory
biological effects endpoints and contaminant
concentrations These comparisons used total metals and
total PCBs to show the similarity in response to
increasing contaminants, regardless of the class (i.e.,
organic, metal) of contaminant. In general, stations in
NBH with high PCB concentrations also had high metals
concentrations (Figure 20). Because these contaminants
are collocated, it is not possible to attribute causality to a
single contaminant. The relationships between species
•o
05
10 =
0.1
10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
Total PCBs (ng/g dry)
Figure 20. Co-location of total PCBs (measured as sum of 18
congeners in ng/g dry wt) and total metals (measured as sum
of all metals analyzed in umol/g dry weight).
richness and PCBs and metals demonstrate this point.
The number of benthic species in NBH decreased as the
total PCB concentration increased (Figure 21 a).
Likewise, the number of benthic species decreased as the
total metal concentrations increased (Figure 21 b). From
these data, it is not possible to determine whether the
change in species richness is due to PCBs, metals, or
both. More likely, the observed decrease is due to the
cumulative effect of both types of contaminants because
most sites with high PCB concentrations also had high
metals concentrations (Figure 20).
In contrast to species richness, the amphipod sediment
toxicity test is a laboratory measure of acute, or short-
term, biological effects. Amphipod survival in NBH
sediments decreased when the total PCB concentration
reached an apparent threshold (Figure 22a). A threshold
also was observed as metal concentrations increased
(Figure 22b). Because PCBs and metals covary, as
shown in Figure 20, it is not possible to demonstrate a
clear relationship between individual contaminants and
survival. However, sediments from the outer harbor were
generally much less toxic than those from the upper or
lower harbors.
Sediment Toxicity and Benthic Community
Condition
The amphipod sediment toxicity test and benthic
community indices both measure biological responses to
multiple stressors. As stated previously, the sediment
toxicity test is a short-term assay that responds
predominantly to contaminants present at acutely toxic
27
-------
NBH tsHn-
T»-
* go-
!
total PCB RmCintMrtttftt CAd t) Hotel meials, ij
sum of all rrwtiJi) « (hi upj>»f. lowwf uniJ ie\t, jiii|«lnpi «i «univai late* below
indJcaic HUN;
assay and miwr
ih« shc^i-wrm ampittpod survival
KMAI" K-ulliic indci. is shown
in fipure 23. This graph is divided into four
izompjrtment^ iL H. Ill «tmt IVi Ktrfd on effect levels
(SO1* of conictd amphipm) iurvival for sediment tonictiy
and 0 for hentNt twfcM Stetmns that have ho«n
nontDiK «edimtna jtftd A heaMiy benthtc commumn »e
in L Ai might he c^pecttd, motn of ithrsf ^uticxv, are
located in the dttUt hflltMH SIMKHU in Q hsv« jn
impacted hmthic communify. hmrvcr, die ^dimen& «v
not jKulrly toxic, Thes*' «ut»m are found in both the
kwcr and upper taft«ir> Became the hcndiic coodilioci
i« degraded and the *cdimeni is not acutely toxic. «
appears (hit the cumulalivc impact* of thes* sediments
art dironic. Chronic itressori can include non-
120-
-
i-«-
1
E
o •
u
*^
; ®-
4
2
C
-
i^j
0°o % ^g^I t 4
V^V 4 i
%
**** V
••
•A
.*• •*
0 A
•
B
* . f
001 01 1 10
I (MS*. CM |jinol^ary*t
• Upper
A Unwr
o outer
TOO
Fipura 22,
»wiwil jsblted aguihM ai tot»l PC&s and t>) notv^iycutif m*c*l« |»um of A*. Sn Cf cwnthned as molar
2S
-------
IV
i
-10
90
•I
A l*«"
> 0*. Ill
IAPI
vafew*
wiiki 411.1 lny pwumeim such u low
tuny gem concentration Dlwol ved o*> fen was
not measured M each station during the NBH-LTM
program. DM umc w-dimeni^. These
dtanbalcd pnrrnonK Jinong [he upper and
|o*«r haibarv huwcvcr. mt*\ o( Ihe ddimn tfe in the
upper hwbor. A1 alJ eiorpt <*« iiUUcim:, jruiely tone
M'lhmenb also Iwd a degnnted benihic community.
Thcie rrnuanmia two station'* aw in IV, where the hcnthic
community n w>t Degraded and the Mttliment i% aculely
KUIC-
average total PCS*, ^luL-iL-tl jneuils.
sur\ivut( and beitthic tndte* f«» L n and III are
*umrrarc£HJ tn TaMc V Cknerally. Mdfion> m I twvt low
PCB> jnJ nurtat* and oV>< MJIH«^ JA-
I impacted PCB and m«*l eoncentral.»om
in II a» viriflble. with many statkmi having
hl|}ifir than itoiw in f CompnrinuMii 111
s (he greater nuigc Jind
buth metal* «nJ PCBv Only one ttflUioo in HI contained
CM cDHxntntttou withiti the range of cmctfltfatHHu
Imrad m L OwaalL the* x^. whether tpeoes number <*
a went v ample* benihiv1 iiwk*, we perhaps the
r.ilh* of the condition nf the MjJiments .11 n
steliiifl. jjJ&IOftigh »«ch analj've* ciin lie t'tislJy, Srd-imenl
fnucity testing n \E*\ costly; however, it tkift EWK |ti w i»
a piciuw of the benthit «.'nndiiicm Bgure Z3
how srdiiww tomcrtii aid the benthk indct can
ingclhcf II *ciiiment«« are MCUKlv nun. ilu-ri
is a high prohnNIJty thni ihey may also have u
henthlc oommunttv . t f resiiurw* are limned.
benihk communiiy analyses could be
sampk* ihn art not jtuie Iv toxic
Future Sdmplinu Rvcomnu'iidalions
monitotlnj; tn NBH iihuuld incluJe each
in the bOMflinc mcmitcmng plu» several
TTlK measurement nl ittese new indK4«orv
tin? jNliiy to define contMnraint effccts-
I n M, the rnduMun «l SEM n«4*uieTnenis lo rwrmnJlw
metttlii datu will impfOVt; (he estimauan nf the
httfavjilable portion of the iwi.il-. Sn metals; are UMW! ui
the SEM/AVS mirmatHatiiQn • cupper, rackeL j»nc.
lead md mctcun Thnc metal* couki be
from the wrdimem AVS mtract. IB iddltion.
mi -i-inial W4ici meia.1* ajncentraiians eouJd he
Second db»olv«d. my gen ihould be mamtDrrd »« the
luifif) U docaoent pmenUi! crunpc* tn
auoM related event*. »uch a* algat blwim and
dissolved tmy»cn. Currently, ihere is high nutnent
input into NBH which can OMIM euirnphie cnndih- .n
tVe*umably. the« condition* «re not occurrknj «o*
hecatne elevated canuinOTani conccnmticnt MC Howe la
-------
NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
toxic to algae are reduced by remediation, eutrophic
conditions may increase. Changes due to eutrophication
can be monitored by measuring dissolved oxygen
concentrations in the water column. Dissolved oxygen
demand increases dramatically as plant and animal
materials decompose. This could lead to hypoxia. The
most effective way to monitor fluctuations in dissolved
oxygen (accounting for temporal changes) is to take
measurements over several days. Instruments designed
to monitor water quality continuously could be deployed
in NBH to document changes in dissolved oxygen. This
would help identify eutrophication-related events.
30
-------
Section V: Data Documentation
Data Format and Availability
An electronic copy of the NBH-LTM data and their
associated metadata are available on PC-formatted 3.5"
disks. The data are organized on spreadsheets in Microsoft
EXCEL® 4.0 and 5.0 formats. It is the responsibility of the
user to read and fully understand the limitations of these
data by reading the metadata. In addition, data are stored
in hardcopy and electronically at the U.S. EPA, NHEERL,
AED. Currently, they are in multiple SAS® data sets that
can be combined using unique identifiers such as the
station plus sampling date, or sample identification
numbers. The data are expected to be converted from
SAS® to ORACLE® in the near future at which time all data
would be stored in an ORACLE® database using relational
tables. Data sets exist with detailed station information
(including latitude, longitude, weather conditions and water
depth), sampling information, analytical chemistry,
sediment grain size,
benthic community measures and sediment toxicity tests,
quality assurance information, and a dictionary for all data
sets available. The name and contents of each data set can
be retrieved from the data dictionary. Chemistry and
benthic community data sets include all replicates and
associated QA codes. Sediment toxicity tests are presented
as the average of five replicates, giving a single observation
per station.
Electronic World Wide Web (WWW) Access
It is the intent of this program to make these data easily
accessible. Eventually all of the NBH data and associated
case studies will reside on the U.S. EPA's WWW service.
This service allows users from both the general public and
EPA to access this database, browse the data, access CIS
maps related to the project, and download data and
associated metadata files from within their Web Browser.
31
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
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33
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
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EPA440/5-89-002. USEPA, Criteria and Standards
Division, Washington, DC.
U.S. EPA. 1994. Methods for Assessing the Toxicity of
Sediment-associated Contaminants with Estuarine and
Marine Amphipods. U.S. EPA, Office of Research and
Development, Narragansett, PJ. EPA/600/R-94/025.
U.S. EPA. 1995. EMAP - Estuaries: Laboratory
Methods Manual - Estuaries. Vol. 1. Biological and
Physical Analyses. U.S. EPA, Office of Research and
Development, Narragansett, RI. EPA/620/R-95/008.
Valente, R.M. and CJ. Strobel. 1993. EMAP-Estuaries
Virginian Province 1993 Quality Assurance Project
Plan. Narragansett, RI: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Office of Research and Development,
Environmental Research Laboratory.
VanderOost, R., H. Heida and A. Opperhuizen. 1988.
Polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in sediments,
plankton, molluscs, crustaceans, and eel in a freshwater
lake: Implications of using reference chemicals and
indicator organisms in bioaccumulation studies. Arch.
Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 17:721-729.
Warwick, R.M. 1980. Population dynamics and
secondary production in benthos. In: Marine Benthic
Dynamics. K.R. Tenore and B.C. Coull, eds., Belle W.
Baruch Library in Science, No. 11. Columbia, SC:
University of South Carolina Press.
Weaver, G. 1982. PCB pollution in the New Bedford,
Massachusetts Area: A status report. Massachusetts
Coastal Zone Management. Prepared by
Commonwealth of MA, Executive Office of
Environmental Affairs, Office of Coastal Zone
Management, 2nd printing Jan. 1983.
Weisberg, S.B., J.A. Ranasinghe, D.M. Dauer, L.C.
Schaffner, R.J. Diaz and J.B. Frithsen. In press. An
estuarine benthic index of biotic integrity (B-IBI) for
Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries.
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Glossary
Glossary
acid volatile sulfide (AVS) - solid phase sulfide in the
sediment extracted using cold acid. The ratio of SEM
(simultaneously extracted metal) to AVS is used to
indicate how available the metals are to the biota.
acute effects - dramatic change in condition of biota,
usually mortality, that occurs relatively quickly (hours to
days) after exposure.
amphipod - small crustacean, generally scavengers, with an
arched 7-segment thorax. Adults range in length from
approximately 2 to 40 mm. Some species are tube-
dwellers; others are free swimming or burrowers.
anthropogenic - originating from man, does not occur
naturally.
ARAR - applicable or relevant and appropriate
requirements. ARARs are standards or criteria for
cleanup found in federal or state environmental law
which are considered pertinent to the Superfund site. Can
include water quality criteria or other relevant criteria.
Aroclor® - a trademark used by the Monsanto company to
refer to mixtures of PCB congeners.
atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA) - instrument
used to measure metal concentrations. Samples are
vaporized and injected into a flame. The light emission
of the ignited sample is measured as absorbance at a
metal-specific wavelength. Absorbance is related to the
sample concentration.
benthic invertebrate community - assemblage of animals
without backbones (e.g., worms, shellfish, Crustacea) at
the sedimentnwater interface (epifauna) and in the bottom
sediments (infauna).
bioaccumulation - the uptake and storage of chemicals from
the environment by biota. Uptake can occur through
feeding or diiject absorption.
bioavailable - the fraction of a compound which is not
bound to another material (e.g., AVS, TOC) and which
can affect organisms.
biomass - total quantity of organism tissue, generally
calculated by drying and weighing a sample.
biomonitoring - analyzing environmental conditions by
examing changes in biota (e.g., chemical uptake,
survival, etc.).
biota - all organisms, plant and animal, in an ecosystem
(collective populations of plants and animals).
CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation & Liability Act. Federal law (passed in
1980, modified in 1986) that created a special trust fund
(Superfund) to help finance the investigation of
hazardous waste sites.
chromatographic - analysis using chromatography. In
chromatography, compounds are separated based upon
their preference to bind to a stationary or mobile material.
chronic effects - change in condition of biota that occurs
over relatively long exposures (months to years).
Measures of chronic exposure can include community
structure and pathology.
community structure - the assemblage of populations of
organisms that interact with each other. The structure is
shaped by populations and their geographic range, the
types of areas they inhabit, species diversity, species
interactions, and the flow of energy and nutrients through
the community.
competitive interactions - (competitive exclusion principle)
the defining characteristics of a population that are a
function of competing with other nearby organisms or
populations for limited resources.
congeners - chemical compounds with similar molecular
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NBH Long-Term Monitoring Program
structures; however, with different molecular weights.
coplanar - lying in the same plane. For PCBs, congeners
are coplanar when both biphenyl rings can move into one
plane.
covary - things that change in a similar way relative to each
other
density-dependent interactions - The defining
characteristics of a population that are a function of the
number and proximity of its individuals (i.e., in a heavily
populated area some organisms do not reproduce). The
number and type of relationships between organisms
increase as the number of organisms increases in a given
area.
divalent - an ion having a double positive charge
ecological risk assessment - a process that defines the
magnitude and extent of anthropogenic effects on the
ecosystem and estimates the acceptability of those effects.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program
(EMAP) - a cross-resource monitoring program designed
to statistically evaluate and compare stations across the
United States. The Estuaries-Virginian Province team
was responsible for monitoring estuaries from the
Virginia coast north to Cape Cod, MA.
EMAP index of benthic community condition - a scale
indicating degraded or non-degraded bottom sediment
communities developed by EMAP. The benthic index is
a function of spionid and tubificid abundance, salinity,
and Gleason's diversity index.
Benthic Index = 0.0489G - 0.0545r „
0.00826Sp/omds - 2.338
G =
Gleason
-0.001035^
- x 100
SM=bottom salinity
G = % of Expected Gleason's Diversity Index
euryhaline - organisms able to tolerate a wide variation in
salinity.
eutrophic - highly productive ecosystem that generally
results from over enrichment of nutrients.
extracted - chemically treated with a solvent to remove a
soluble material.
gas chromatograph (GC)- instrument used to separate and
identify organic compounds. The volatilized sample is
injected into a carrier gas. The carrier gas and sample
pass over a stationary material. Compounds pass through
the stationary material at different rates, and based on
these rates can be separated and identified. The GC can
be used for accurate measurements of very small
quantities of complex mixtures.
gonadal - relating to the reproductive organs.
grain size - sediment characterization that is a measurement
of the average particle diameter. Silt/clay, sand and
gravel are the three major classifications used in this
report.
gravel - sediment particles greater than or equal to 2 mm
diameter and less than 64 mm diameter.
hypoxia - low dissolved oxygen concentration.
ICP - inductively coupled plasma spectrophotometer -
analytical instrument used to quantify several metals at
the same time.
interstitial - spaces between the sand grains
lower harbor - area between the Coggeshall St. Bridge and
the hurricane barrier.
macrobenthos - animals living in the sediment greater than
0.5 mm in length.
metadata - information on quality assurance, quality
control, data handling and methods that are associated
with research data.
normalize - a technique applied to help evaluate two or
more entities on similar scales, mathematically or
chemically.
organic compound - generally all carbon compounds (i.e.,
containing the element carbon) with a few exceptions,
such as CaCO3.
ortho substitution - refers to positioning of substituent
atoms on adjoining carbon atoms on a biphenyl group
(C6H5+).
outer harbor - the area from the hurricane barrier to the
outer closure line.
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ppm - parts per million. Equivalent to ug/g.
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - two 6-carbon rings
(biphenyl - C6H5+) with two or more chlorine atoms
substituted for hydrogen.
pore water - water in the interstitial space between sediment
particles.
probabilistic - designed to be used in statistical
manipulations.
ROD - record of decision.
sand - sediment particles greater than or equal to 63 um and
less than 2 mm diameter.
SARA - Superfund Amendments & Reauthorization Act.
sediment toxicity tests - exposure of animals to site-specific
sediment for a limited time to determine acute responses
(mortality) of the animals to the sediment.
silt/clay - sediment particles less than 63 um in diameter.
solubility - the ability of one substance to dissolve in
another, measured as the amount of solute that will
dissolve in a set amount of solvent.
Glossary
solvent-exchanged - changing the solvent of a solution to
one suitable for gas chromatography analysis.
sonicating - disrupting using high frequency sound waves.
spawning - process of fertilization of eggs
species dominance - species or group of species that exert
controlling influences over the population by virtue of
their population, size, feeding strategy, or mode of
reproduction.
species richness - the total number of species in a
community.
total organic carbon (TOC) - sum of material in a sample
containing carbon compounds. Classically, organic
carbon is a result of detritus and decaying organisms.
unbiased - without influence
upper harbor - area north of the Coggeshall St. Bridge in
New Bedford Harbor.
Young-modified van Veen grab sampler - a hinged
sampling device, resembling a clam shell, for collecting
sediment. The device is contained in a frame which
helps to keep it flat on the bottom during sample
collection. The sediment surface area sampled is 440 cm2.
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