Background & History

 

In 1989, an innovative strategy for more quantifiable biomonitoring was published by EPA.  This strategy consists of two separate but inter-related components:

1. Establishing new bioassessment protocols which combine biological sampling and analysis techniques into an integrated, multi-metric assessment with habitat evaluation; and
2. Determining appropriate ecoregional reference sites which represent a region's best attainable water quality conditions.

An assessment of biological integrity and habitat evaluation performed at a point of interest is, then compared to the regional reference condition for a determination of relative ecosystem impairment.

To bring the new bioassessment approach to Florida, the Department initiated two major projects in early 1991.  With funding provided by the Clean Water Act's Nonpoint Source Pollution grant program (Section 319), contracts were begun to delineate Florida's areas of ecological similarity (called ecoregions) and identify reference stream sites, and to refine EPA's biological (benthic macroinvertebrate) sampling methods to reflect Florida's freshwater stream systems.

Concurrently, the Department established its Biocriteria Committee to oversee the contracts and integrate the work into the agency's management programs.   The Biocriteria Committee is comprised of both technical and management staff from several divisions.  The committee meetings also provide training events for the agency's biologists on the new protocols, analytical tools and reporting to ensure statewide consistency in the implementation of the new approach.  Meetings are held four to five times per year, with various task forces established to handle pilot studies and research issues on separate occasions.

In 1993, the Regionalization Project for Florida delineated 13 sub-ecoregions from 3 ecoregions as originally determined in the Ecoregions of the Conterminous United States (1987) mapping project. Within nine of the regions, 85 stream reference sites were identified. The southernmost ecoregions, with it's four subecoregions, was not included in the streams biocriteria development because of its unique ecological characteristics.

Data was gathered by biologists from DEP District Offices and the Division of Technical Services' Biology Section, and analyzed by the principal contractor, Tetra Tech. After examining the data from five years of twice-yearly sampling, the nine ecoregions were collapsed into three bioregions, or areas of general homogeneity in the freshwater macrobenthic community assemblage of wadeable streams. These bioregions split along the Panhandle, the Peninsula (excluding the Everglades Ecoregion) and a small portion of Northeast Florida.

The final products of the streams bioassessment work include the seven-metric Stream Condition Index (SCI) and the three-metric Bioreconnaissance (or BioRecon). BioRecon differs from the SCI in that it is used as an initial watershed screening method to determine whether or not additional resources should be allocated to the area, such as sampling using the SCI method. The BioRecon is thus seen as a cost-saving procedure to make the most efficient use of monitoring resource for the agency in a wide variety of programs. The SCI is the primary indicator of stream ecosystem health, identifying impairment with respect to the reference (natural) condition. A standardized evaluation of habitat conditions is also performed at each site.

In 1998, Florida DEP began development of a lake bioassessment protocol to monitor and assess the biological integrity of Florida lakes. The framework for bioassessment consisted of characterizing reference conditions upon which comparisons can be made, and identifying appropriate biological attributes with which to measure the condition. Reference conditions were selected to be the "best available" conditions for a particular region or area, and were intended to be representative of sustainable ecosystem health. They did not necessarily represent pristine conditions uninfluenced by human activities.

Geographic regionalization based on topography, natural water chemistry, lake origin, lake hydrology and soils identified unique regions within which reference sites can be established. This process (described in detail in Griffth et al. 1996. Florida lake regions report. US EPA, Corvallis, OR) resulted in the delineation of 47 lake regions within Florida. Ongoing research contracted with Tetra Tech identified 500 potential lakes with complete data sets for Secchi, Chlorophyll, TN, TP, Color, and pH to examine relationships between macroinvertebrate communities, water quality parameters, and basin land use characteristics in Florida's lakes, this led to the development of the Lake Condition Index (LCI). Along with the development of the LCI, the Lake Vegetative Index (LVI) was also being tested as a possible metric for determining water quality in lakes.

Florida DEP initiated the development of biological monitoring tools for wetland ecosystems. A research team, led by Dr. Mark Brown of the University of Florida's Center for Wetlands, investigated potential wetland attributes for use in the development of biocriteria for these systems. Wetlands biocriteria differ substantially from those established for streams and lakes, which rely heavily on benthic macroinvertebrates, in that they will also incorporate assessment of vegetative and physical (hydrologic and soil) conditions. The University of Florida research team is currently working on the classification of Florida’s wetland types to be used in future wetlands regionalization efforts. Concurrently, the UF researchers are conducting field studies to investigate potential methods to be used in the development of biological assessment protocols for wetlands.

Get information on the ongoing development and refinement of biological monitoring tools in Florida.

Updates on the progress of continued development of lake, stream and wetland bioassessment tools in Florida are included in the proceedings of the meetings of FDEP's biocriteria committee.