If you’ve ever wondered why some streams in southeast Ohio look more orange-colored than blue, you’re not alone. Such color variation distinguishes types of streams from one another and, in the case of the orange water, help to tell the story of how southeast Ohio’s coal mining heritage modified the region’s ecology.A group of researchers at the Voinovich School has been immersed in the subject since 2005, working to develop a better stream classification system for southeast Ohio’s Western Allegheny Plateau eco-region.
Known as the Appalachian Watershed Research Group, the interdisciplinary team has been aided by the University’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant.The STAR grant is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Center for Environmental Research which is “devoted to supporting high quality research that will improve the scientific basis for national environmental decisions”.A recent visit to the group by a representative of the EPA underscored the important work being done with the STAR grant.
Ohio University received the grant as one of a series of grants across the U.S. that focus on finding innovative ways to refine classification of aquatic ecosystems (specifically fish and bugs) to support the monitoring and diagnosing of biological impairment.According to Ed Rankin, a member of the team, the group hoped to refine classification of fish and macro invertebrate assemblages as well as develop better tools for the identification of environmental stressors in watersheds.
“We need to redefine further what the classification criteria are so that we can have more defined goals,” he said.
This research is important because it will provide a more complete understanding of pollution and how it impacts stream quality.Classification of water is not only important for regional research purposes, creating refined classifications will allow for the development of accurate endpoints for the Clean Water Act (CWA) and will assist the State of Ohio in tracking progress towards achieving the goals of the CWA.
“This research will benefit the region, the state, and the nation by providing much-needed data and new techniques for assessing stream health. By applying state-of-the-art sampling and analytical techniques to these streams, we’re developing a new methodology for how to determine Clean Water Act compliance,” said Scott Miller, Director of Energy and Environmental Programs at the Voinovich School and a member of the project team.
The research being done by the STAR group is a product of an interdisciplinary team of researchers, including faculty, Voinovich school staff, and students, all of whom are members of Ohio University’sAppalachian Watershed Research Group.
“The project has a unique mix of research talents including biologists, engineers, geochemists, phycologists (algae specialists), geomorphologists, geographers, and hydrogeologists.They’re all included in this project. In addition, this project has supported more than two dozen student researchers including almost a dozen who have completed their Masters and/or Doctoral theses because of this grant” said Miller.
This large group not only makes the project different than past research, it also makes it more effective.According to the group, the problems associated with watersheds are complex and it is important to address a wide range of classification factors. The group’s research confirmed that existing classification by stream size is appropriate and that refinement to include level IV ecoregions were not required.
The research conducted by the Ohio University STAR team is also important because of the data that was collected.The Voinovich School was able to take the data and create an online database and mapping system using GIS maps.This allows for the sharing and searching of large amounts of data.GIS mapping allows the information to be seen visually making it easy to read and understand.
“This system was not a part of the project but we decided it was important to create,” said Jen Bowman, Watershed Team Leader and Voinovich School staff member.“Since the project covered a variety of disciplines we needed a uniform way to aggregate the data and share information.”
This system is also valuable to students and other researchers, said Morgan Vis-Chiasson, Professor of Environmental and Plant Biology and project team member.It allows students to perform better studies by “taking data collection to the next level.”
In addition, the team was able to link all of their data to the Ohio EPA long-term data, added Miller, allowing “for bigger, better and more compete studies of watersheds in the future.”
For more information on this project, check out the team’s web site at http://www.ohiowaterresearch.com/star