Monitoring Southern California's Coastal Waters (1990) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 A Framework for the Analysis of Monitoring
5 A Framework for the Analysis of Monitoring
Pages 97-115
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 97... ...
6. Are monitoring resources allocated effectively both within and among monitoring programs?
|
From page 98... ...
The following sections address three areas that are especially relevant to the analysis of monitoring and that underlie the evaluation criteria: . the importance of clear objectives, · the role of technical design and its statistical component, and · the necessity for identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing environmental problems.
|
From page 99... ...
THE ROLE OF TECHNICAL DESIGN Technical design involves making decisions about what to monitor; how, when, and where to take measurements; and how to analyze and interpret the resulting data. The parent Committee on a Systems Assessment of Marine Environmental Monitoring developed a design methodology that the panel used to structure its evaluation of this aspect of monitoring in the Southern California Bight (Figures 5-1 to 5-4)
|
From page 100... ...
· Data base systems should make authorized versions of the data readily available to analysts and managers, and should provide easy access to a wide range of analysis, graphics, and reporting tools.
|
From page 101... ...
The technical design process illustrated in Figures 5-1 to 5-4 furnishes a framework for translating broad questions and objectives into specific decisions about what to measure, where to measure it, and how many measurements to take. Using this framework as an evaluation tool enabled the panel to use a common set of standards in considering the technical design of monitoring programs in the bight.
|
From page 102... ...
In addition to evaluating whether individual programs meet their objectives, this necessitates determining whether the entire collection of monitoring programs produces
|
From page 103... ...
The technical design methodology described above provided a means of struc turing the analysis of individual programs. However, there was no similar framework available for the overall analysis of the monitoring system.
|
From page 104... ...
Third, there are extensive and diverse human and natural sources of perturbation in the bight and methods for characterizing multiple and cumulative impacts are not well developed. For example, effects on fish populations may derive from: · coastal power plants~ntrainment of larvae, impingement of adults; municipal wastewater outfalls-habitat alteration, changes in food supply, contamination; · dredged material disposal-habitat alteration, contamination; · storm runoff-contamination; and · sport and commercial fishing-increased mortality.
|
From page 105... ...
proceeds through a series of steps that specify: valued ecosystem components (VECs) , · marine constituents (both natural ecosystem parameters and anthropogenic contaminants)
|
From page 106... ...
Individual cells of the matrix illustrate the presumed relative impact of each source on each component, along with the associated scientific certainty. Each column represents cumulative impacts on individual components; each row shows the effects of individual perturbations on all components.
|
From page 107... ...
It also shows that perturbations typically affect more than one ecosystem component. For example, storms affect soft benthos, kelp beds, and human health; wastewater outfalls affect soft benthos, microheterotrophs, and demersal fish populations.
|
From page 108... ...
monitoring program around the Orange County wastewater outfall is designed to document the effects of the outfall on a range of resources, including soft benthos, water quality, and demersal fish populations. Monitoring programs that consider how several perturbations, acting together, affect a single resource would focus on an entire column of Figure 5-5 and are called column assessments.
|
From page 109... ...
are compared to the spatial and temporal scales of relevant monitoring programs. Figure 5-7 qualitatively shows the effects of changes in marine constituents on valued marine ecosystem components.
|
From page 111... ...
For example, nonmobile metals and hydrophobic organics are presumed to persist in the environment and spread much more widely than nutrients. The temporal and spatial boundaries of existing monitoring programs are outlined by a solid line, with the exception of the CalCOFI Program, whose parametem are indicated by an "X" in the upper right of the figure.
|
From page 112... ...
C ~ V a, J`45 E E CO~ o) ~ IL0> sa: Inm: ._~ ~C c .m ~ a> |
From page 113... ...
However, since Figure 5-8 does not include mortality as one of the marine constituents, Figures 5-7 and 5-8 do not combine to predict impacts on fish from fishing, an obvious failing. In addition, Figure 5-5 indicates that blooms, natural diseases, and especially ecological interactions have significant effects on the VECs.
|
From page 114... ...
Perturbations include both human and natural sources of change. Basin flushing refers to the turnover of near-bottom water in offshore basins; mass sediment flows to sudden, large movements of sediment on the shelf; blooms or invasions to rapid increases in population levels of otherwise rare species (e.g., the echiuran Lis~iolobus or the kelp isopod Peniidothea resecta)
|
From page 115... ...
Finally, an overall assessment of environmental problems in the bight provides a framework for determining if all important questions are being addressed and whether monitoring resources are being allocated effectively.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.