Ecological condition of US Mid-Atlantic estuaries, 1997-1998.
The Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA-Estuaries) evaluated ecological conditions in US Mid-Atlantic estuaries during the summers of 1997 and 1998. Over 800 probability-based stations were monitored in four main estuarine systems--Chesapeake Bay, the Delaware Estuary, Maryland and Virginian coastal bays, and the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System. Twelve smaller estuaries within the four main systems were also assessed to establish variance at the local scale. A subset of the MAIA-Estuaries data is used here to estimate the extent of eutrophication, sediment contamination, and benthic degradation in mid-Atlantic estuaries. An Environmental Report Card and Index of Environmental Integrity summarize conditions in individual estuaries, the four estuarine systems, and the entire MAIA region. Roughly 20-50% of the region showed signs of eutrophication (high nutrients, excessive production of organic matter, poor water clarity, or depleted dissolved oxygen), 30% had contaminated sediments, and 37% had degraded benthic communities. Compared with the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP)-Virginian Province study in 1990-1993, larger fractions of Chesapeake Bay (17%) and Delaware River (32%) had increased metals or organics in sediments.
Kiddon
John A
JA
US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, 27 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA. kiddon.john@epa.gov
Paul
John F
JF
Buffum
Harry W
HW
Strobel
Charles S
CS
Hale
Stephen S
SS
Cobb
Donald
D
Brown
Barbara S
BS
D044822:Biodiversity; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005068:Eutrophication; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D008873:Mid-Atlantic Region; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D045483:Rivers