All:
Not only in lakes (I'm not a limnologist), but in other areas, starting,
let's say with soil testing, standardized tests can range from impotent to
disastrous. It depends upon what you really want to know (or what you really
should want to know and discover).
For example, standard agronomic soil tests for, say N, P, K and maybe iron
are next to useless (and a huge waste of time and money as well as
misleading) in "restoration" work, as soil in stable (more or less)
ecosystems will sometimes test, say, high for P, but as actual availability
of P in the ecosystem is dependent upon an intermediary like mycorrhizal
fungi, which will not be present in the disturbed "soil" of many restoration
sites. Adding P in "available" form, like, say, "super" phosphorus as in
agronomy and horticulture will be "toxic" to mycorrhizal fungi, inhibiting
its development at the critical beginning stage of ecosystem recovery.
Most such "testing" is irrelevant in most restoration, but I've been out of
the picture so long, I don't know what current "standards" or "BMP's"
require, but things like this and using "cover" as a standard for
restoration effectiveness were once common agency requirements. Failing to
test, say, for Boron, might have critical implications in some places.
Visual examination of profiles and an understanding of the geological
formations and the sources of the "soil" can be very instructive and guide
testing. "Protocol" is for authoritarians and expediency, not for analysis
of relevant realities and what to do or not do about them.
In lakes, I suspect that analysis of the actual absorption of, and effects
upon, living organisms should be at least a part of a testing regimen, if
not adequate for some purposes. And testing, to be useful has to be more
than one or two samples. One needs enough data to expose a pattern. And that
can get EXPENSIVE real fast. And then there's the idea of species
composition and distribution and comparing functioning with malfunctioning
systems and trends.
A lot of the work that gets done in the restoration world is largely more
ceremonial than substantial, and often downright misleading. The devil
really is in the details, and more of them than most project will allow.
When you do forensics on failed projects, the impact of slavish obeisance to
standards rears its ugly (if predominant) head.
Each project should be re-thought from zero to adequacy, for relevance, and,
one hopes, for discovery beyond standard assumptions. This (if practiced)
should employ at lot of ecologists and other scientists . . .
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "malcolm McCallum" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Is there a Water Quality Index for lakes?
The outcomes of what Nolan refers to are published in the ASTM
Standard Methods.
These will be under effluent testing, 48 hr, 24 hr, etc acute and
chronic tox assays
using daphnae, chironomids, etc. There are other effluent testing
protocols for testing impairment,
most are standard methods under US EPA manuals. OThers, are published
by the American Water Works Association. .
On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 10:21 AM, J. Michael Nolan
<[email protected]> wrote:
Took a course one time taught by John Cairns, Ph.D. of VA Tech at the U.
of Michigan. His entire push was to use macroinvertebrates, etc. as more
important tools of monitoring Water Quality in not only Streams, Rivers,
but also Lakes. So, find publications from him.
I'm sure in all of the indices mentioned to this point, Fecal Coliform
Bacteria are included in many of them. If not they should be.
Also, took a course in Limnology once. Find some good texts on the topic
and you will find some good recommendations.
Thank you.
Mike Nolan
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