Current Projects
Research and development and analytical support for the BLM’s Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) Lotic Program
NAMC is a science partner for the BLM’s Lotic AIM Program and has played a key role in program development since lotic AIM started in 2011. NAMC assists with benchmark development and causal assessment for biological, chemical, and physical habitat data.
Bioassessment across flow permanence gradients
In collaboration with the AZ DEQ and BLM, we developed 16 indices across a wide range of flow permanence that occurs in streams of the arid western USA. These indices, including modeled insect richness, are currently being explored for use by agencies.
Regional assessments of aquatic intactness: Sensitivity of inferences to differences in data sources, scoring, and aggregation
Measures of landscape intactness are needed to inform conservation and restoration goals, but no standard method exists. We are comparing 7 regional assessments of aquatic intactness in the Upper Colorado River basin as a case study.
Deriving site-specific assessment benchmarks for physical habitat from interagency networks of reference sites
Few models exist for predicting natural spatial variation in physical habitat attributes. We are developing models to predict natural, site-specific variation in fine sediment, pools, canopy cover, large wood, and bank angle. If models perform well, they
Factors influencing the accuracy and precision of water-quality assessments and benchmarks
We are revising models used to predict natural background concentrations of TP, TN, and specific conductance to minimize the influence of climate change on benchmark values. We are also comparing four ways of calculating model prediction intervals for use...
Sources of error in biological indices
We are using a long-term monthly macroinvertebrate dataset from the Logan River, UT to quantify how uncertainty associated with laboratory subsampling and taxonomic identification influence biological index precision and accuracy.
Evaluation of the space-for-time assumption associated with the reference condition approach to ecological assessments
The reference condition approach to ecological assessment often assumes that spatial variation in assessment endpoints across reference sites is similar to long-term variation in those endpoints at individual reference sites. We are using multi-year data
Assessing accuracy and costs of ecological assessments based on environmental DNA
Sampling environmental DNA (eDNA) may improve the detection of species and decrease the costs of biological monitoring. We are conducting 3 studies In collaboration with the USGS, BLM, and the state of Washington to determine the effectiveness of eDNA-bas...
Development and implementation of biological assessment tools for wadeable streams in eastern Alaska
In collaboration with the NPS, BLM, USFWS, and Alaska DEC, NAMC is developing an O/E, MMI, or modeled richness index for assessment of eastern Alaska wadeable streams. If an index of sufficient performance is developed, agencies will use it to assess impa...
Enhance regional-scale assessments by identifying specific taxa that decrease or increase in response to land use
The predictive models used in O/E assessments can be used to quantify what taxa are decreasing and increasing in frequency of occurrence. We will use Lotic AIM survey data to understand what individual taxa may be most susceptible or responsive to human a...