Ecological Evaluation Technical Guidance - State of New Jersey

For the purposes of surface water, habitat is considered to be both aquatic andriparian because this is the habitat that most directly influences the aquaticcommunity.Although numerous habitat assessment protocols are available and may beacceptable, the visual-based habitat assessment described in RapidBioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams and Wadeable Rivers (USEPA,1999b) is recommended along with the habitat assessment protocol includedin Field and Laboratory Methods for Macroinvertebrate and HabitatAssessment of Low Gradient, Nontidal Streams (USEPA, 1997b) for habitatthat is more lentic. These protocols, when used correctly, provide a highqualityassessment in a short time with minimal cost.When planning a habitat assessment, the area to be assessed should be thesame as the area planned for a community survey (if one is planned) althoughfor certain parameters a “wider” view of the site may be necessary. If thecommunity survey is conducted on the same day, care should be taken not todisturb the sampling habitat. Spring and summer are ideal for a habitatassessment.These habitat assessments provide field-ready worksheets (Appendix A) forgrading, on a scale of 0-20, a select set of habitat characteristics that can besummed to a final score that can help characterize the degradation of aparticular area. These assessments can then be included in the lines ofevidence used during different stages of the risk assessment. Three sets ofworksheets based on gradient are included. It is important to use theworksheets that best fit the site being assessed.The habitat assessment should be conducted by a biologist or ecologistfamiliar with the protocols in the above documents and with theenvironmental qualities in the area to be assessed. It is recommended that atleast two of these qualified personnel conduct the habitat assessment at thesame time, but separately, so that any discrepancies in the qualitativeevaluations can be discussed and agreed upon before finalizing scores. Duringthe collection of habitat data, basic physicochemical data on the surface water(e.g., pH, DO, conductivity, salinity, temperature, and turbidity) should alsobe collected.Community SurveysCommunity surveys measure current biological conditions. These surveys arethe only way to directly measure the structure and function of a community.Combined with the habitat assessment, this information complements and canenhance the contaminant information collected at a site and can provideadditional lines of evidence to support conclusions and management decisionsat various stages of the risk assessment process.There are two basic survey types: community structure surveys andcommunity function surveys. Community structure is the measurement ofbiotic characteristics (e.g., species abundance, diversity, and composition) at aEcological Evaluation Technical Guidance Document 50Version 1.2 8/29/12