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Using Ecological Risk Assessment to Identify the Major Anthropogenic Stressor in the Waquoit Bay Watershed, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

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Abstract

The Waquoit Bay Watershed ecological risk assessment was performed by an interdisciplinary and interagency workgroup. This paper focuses on the steps taken to formulate the analysis plan for this watershed assessment. The workgroup initially conducted a series of meetings with the general public and local and state managers to determine environmental management objectives for the watershed. The workgroup then decided that more information was needed on the impacts of six stressors: nutrient enrichment, physical alteration of habitat, altered freshwater flow, toxic chemicals, pathogens, and fisheries harvesting. Assessment endpoints were selected to establish the link between environmental management objectives, impacts of stressors, and scientifically measurable endpoints. The following assessment endpoints were selected: estuarine eelgrass cover, scallop abundance, finfish diversity and abundance, wetland bird distribution and abundance, piping plover distribution and abundance, tissue contaminant levels, and brook trout distribution and abundance in streams. A conceptual model was developed to show the pathways between human activities, stressors, and ecological effects. The workgroup analyzed comparative risks, by first ranking stressors in terms of their potential risk to biotic resources in the watershed. Then stressors were evaluated by considering the components of stressors (e.g., the stressor chemical pollution included both heavy metals and chlorinated solvents components) in terms of intensity and extensiveness. The workgroup identified nutrient enrichment as the major stressor. Nutrient enrichment comprised both phosphorus enrichment in freshwater ponds and nitrogen enrichment within estuaries. Because phosphorus impacts were being analyzed and mitigated by the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, this assessment focused on nitrogen. The process followed to identify the predominant stressor and focus the analyses on nitrogen impacts on eelgrass and scallops will serve as an example of how to increase the use of the findings of a watershed assessment in decision making.

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Acknowledgments

The entire Waquoit Bay watershed workgroup contributed to the development of the assessment and the EPA report upon which this article is based. Special thanks to Suzanne Marcy for initiating the assessment. Thanks to the other workgroup members: Maggie Geist, Patti Tyler, Suzanne Marcy, Vicki Atwell, Jeroen Gerritsen, John Miller, Conchi Rodriquez, and Chuck Spooner. Thanks to David Dow, the one co-author who provided the necessary historical perspective, and Leela Rao, who came in at the last minute to help finish the EPA assessment report. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the National Marine Fisheries Service.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (8623-N) Office of Research and Development, 12009, Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460, USA

    Victor B. Serveiss

  2. Boston University Marine Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA

    Jennifer l. Bowen

  3. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA

    David Dow

  4. Boston University Marine Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA

    Ivan Valiela

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  1. Victor B. Serveiss
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  2. Jennifer l. Bowen
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  4. Ivan Valiela
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Serveiss, V., Bowen, J., Dow, D. et al. Using Ecological Risk Assessment to Identify the Major Anthropogenic Stressor in the Waquoit Bay Watershed, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Environmental Management 33, 730–740 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0085-y

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