Ecological Evaluation Technical Guidance - State of New Jersey

identify community metrics such as density, diversity, dominance, andfrequency. Density is the number of individuals per unit area. Diversity is thenumber of species per unit area. Dominance is the measure of the size,weight, or bulk of a species relative to all species in a given area. Frequencyis a measure of the commonness and distribution of a species within a givenarea.The extent to which plant and animal surveys will be conducted will dependupon the stage of the evaluation process and the complexity of the site.Qualitative surveys using direct observations are appropriate in EEs.Quantitative surveys that would potentially examine population metrics atdifferent trophic levels may be needed in the most complex of ERAs.It is not within the scope of this guidance document to present acomprehensive review of all potential community survey techniques.Depending upon the type of communities being evaluated (e.g., grasslands,shrub lands, or forests), different techniques for quantitative communitysurveys can be employed. The investigator is referred to the followingreferences for information on different community assessment techniques;USFWS (1981); USEPA (1990c); Kent and Coker (1992); USEPA (1992b);Bonham (1989); Suter et al. (2000); USEPA (2002f) and Kapustka et al.(2004). It is suggested that Breden (1989) or Collins and Anderson (1994) beused as a guide for defining plant communities. Additional, specialmanagement areas such as the Meadowlands and the Pinelands (Harshberger,1970) should be researched for communities typical of those settings. Forwildlife populations, the investigator is referred to Davis (1982); Skalski andRobson (1992); Suter et al. (2000); Williams et al. (2002); and Braun (2005).6.2.3.3 Surface Soil SamplingSection 5.3 provides general guidance on the collection of soil samplesassociated with the performance of the EE. The investigator should be awarethat additional soil sampling may be necessary during the performance of theERA. The need for such sampling is site-specific and may depend on anumber of factors such as refining the extent of contamination (horizontallyand vertically) relative to the ESC within an ESNR, or the collection of soilsamples in conjunction with methods used to evaluate ecological risk (e.g.,earthworm or small mammal tissue residue or toxicity testing, etc.).6.2.3.4 Biological Sampling of Soil Invertebrates, Plants and WildlifeMany contaminants are capable of being transferred or concentrated from soilto biota. Bioaccumulation of contaminants within tissues of organisms cancause chronic effects on individual organisms (e.g., forage or prey species)and expose higher trophic level organisms (predators) to COPECs. Tissueconcentrations of bioaccumulated contaminants can increase as they aretransferred up the food chain through the process of biomagnification (Section6.1.3.2).Ecological Evaluation Technical Guidance Document 65Version 1.2 8/29/12