1. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Using periphyton communities to indicate nutrient levels in Pacific Northwest streams Dan Sobota 1, Shannon Hubler 1, Mike Paul 2, and Rochelle Labiosa 3 1 Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Portland, OR 2 Tetra Tech, Raleigh, NC 3 US Environmental Protection Agency, Seattle, WA Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting, Sacramento, CA, May 24, 2016

2. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Nutrient pollution in Pacific Northwest streams Slide 2

3. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Nutrient pollution in Pacific Northwest streams Common throughout the region Slide 3 Photo by Bonnie Lamb Rogue River, western OR Deschutes River, central OR Powder River, eastern OR

4. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Common throughout the region Causes water quality impairments Nutrient pollution in Pacific Northwest streams Dissolved Oxygen Standard

5. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Common throughout the region Causes water quality impairments Screening tools to focus monitoring needed Nutrient pollution in Pacific Northwest streams

6. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Biological indicators of water quality

7. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Integrate environmental conditions over space and time Biological indicators of water quality

8. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Integrate environmental conditions over space and time Oregon already uses macroinvertebrates to indicate maximum temperatures and fine sediments Biological indicators of water quality

9. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Integrate environmental conditions over space and time Oregon already uses macroinvertebrates to indicate maximum temperatures and fine sediments Periphyton used as indicators of nutrients in several states Biological indicators of water quality Kurt Carpenter, USGS

10. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Conceptual model Slide 10

11. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Conceptual model Slide 11

12. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Conceptual model Slide 12

13. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Conceptual model Slide 13

14. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Nutrient Scientific Technical Exchange Partnership and Support (N-STEPS) EPA program to support state agencies in nutrient work State works with contractor (Tetra Tech) on analysis http://tetratechwindpower.com/index.html Slide 14

15. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Oregon N-STEPS project objectives Slide 15

16. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Oregon N-STEPS project objectives Compile periphyton and nutrient data from streams & rivers Develop statistical models relating periphyton to nutrients Use models to infer nutrient and water quality conditions Slide 16

17. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Project outline Slide 17 2014 – 2015 Completed 2016 – 2017 Underway

18. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Data compilation Unfiltered total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) - 4 weeks or + 2 weeks of periphyton sample Benthic standing stocks of chlorophyll a and ash-free dry mass (AFDM) 90 distinct periphyton community composition metrics (Stevenson et al. 2008; Potapova and Charles 2007) Slide 18

19. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Slide 19 Data compilation Level III EcoregionSamples Blue Mountains135 Cascades140 Coast Range114 Columbia Plateau155 Eastern Cascades32 Klamath Mountains91 Northern Basin and Range119 Willamette Valley142 Total:928

20. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Slide 20 Spatial distribution - nutrients

21. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Spatial autocorrelation – periphyton indices Slide 21

22. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Watershed size – periphyton biomass & nutrients Slide 22

23. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Slide 23 Nonmetric multidimensional scaling by project Species assemblage by project

24. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Stressor Response Methods Linear and nonlinear regression models –AFDM and chlorophyll a with TN and TP –Periphyton community metrics with TN and TP Treed Regression to examine ecoregion differences –Begin to explore interactions with other variables Slide 24

25. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Biomass & chlorophyll a vs. nutrients Slide 25

26. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Slide 26 Nutrients and periphyton nutrient indices

27. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Treed regression – OptCat_NutMMI vs. TP Weighted average nutrient multivariate optima Level III Ecoregion Latitude (°) Watershed Area (km 2 ) Elevation (m) Log 10 (TP (mg/L)) Coast Range Cascades Willamette Valley East Cascades Slopes and foothills Columbia Plateau Blue Mountains Klamath Mountains Northern Basin and Range 208 679 315 41.86

28. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Take home messages Slide 28

29. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Take home messages Biomass metrics do not correlate well with nutrients alone Slide 29

30. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Take home messages Biomass metrics do not correlate well with nutrients alone Community metrics show better correlations with nutrients alone; but still pretty variable Slide 30

31. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Take home messages Biomass metrics do not correlate well with nutrients alone Community metrics show better correlations with nutrients alone; but still pretty variable Breaking up by ecoregion gives insight on other factors that could be important to take into account –Phase II of the project –Also will try to link with water quality impairments in ecoregions Slide 31

32. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Acknowledgements Jacques Oliver, US EPA HQ Chauncey Anderson & Kurt Carpenter, USGS Bonnie Lamb, Deb Sturdevant, Gene Foster, & Aaron Borisenko, ODEQ Jon Harcum and Diane Allen, Tetra Tech NSTEPS program (funded by US EPA) Slide 32

33. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Slide 33 Questions?

34. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading What influences periphyton communities? Changes to limiting factors Increased nutrient loading Warmer temperatures More light input Trophic cascades Altered hydrologic regimes Slide 34 ODFW HW Paerl

35. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Conceptual model Slide 35

36. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Conceptual model Slide 36

37. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading State Factors pH & DO sensitivities benthic nutrients Interspecific competition Facilitations & mutualisms Palatability Resources Light Nutrients Biology Species pool Climate Temperature patterns Habitat Substrates Gradient GW – SW Exchange Chemical conditions Time/ hydrology Position on hydrograph Ecosystem model Δ ecosystem metabolism Δ community characteristics Δ biomass / chlorophyll a Periphyton Community

38. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading Distribution of projects and site replication Slide 38

39. View “Slide Master” To Change Heading NMS – Periphyton species Slide 39