Detecting Ecological Impacts (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Detecting Ecological Impacts: Concepts and Applications in Coastal Habitats 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 6
Contributors 16
Acknowledgments 18
Preface 20
SECTION I: AN INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGICAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES AND GOALS 22
Chapter 1. Detecting Ecological Impacts Caused by Human Activities 24
The Need for Field Assessments 26
The (In-)Adequacy of Existing Field Assessment Designs 27
The Organization of This Book 34
References 36
Chapter 2. Goals in Environmental Monitoring 38
A Case for Confidence Intervals 39
Discussion 45
References 47
Chapter 3. Criteria for Selecting Marine Organisms in Biomonitoring Studies 50
What Should an "Indicator" Indicate? 52
Conclusions 64
References 66
Chapter 4. Impacts on Soft-Sediment Macrofauna: The Effects of Spatial Variation on Temporal Trends 70
Methods 73
Results 74
Discussion 80
References 85
Chapter 5. Scalable Decision Criteria for Environmental Impact Assessment: Effect Size,Type I, and Type II Errors 88
Components of a Decision 89
Problems with Traditional Decisions 90
New Decision Rules 92
Advantages of Liberating a 95
Some Problems with a Variable a 97
Summary 99
References 100
SECTION II: IMPROVING FIELD ASSESSMENTS OF LOCAL IMPACTS BEFORE-AFTER-CONTROL-IMPACT DESIGNS 102
Chapter 6. Detection of Environmental Impacts: Natural Variability, Effect Size, and Power Analysis 104
Methods 107
Results 114
Discussion 122
References 126
Chapter 7. Problems in the Analysis of Environmental Monitoring Data 130
Before–After Studies 131
Before–After–Control–Impact Paired Series Designs 136
Causal Uncertainty 146
Discussion 150
References 151
Chapter 8. Estimating the Size of an Effect from a Before–After–Control–Impact Paired Series Design: The Predictive Approach Applied to a Power Plant Study 154
Background on the Example Data Set 155
The Standard Approach—The Underlying Model and Implications 157
Difficulties with the Standard Approach 158
An Alternative: The Predictive Approach 161
Discussion 167
References 169
Chapter 9. On Beyond BACI: Sampling Designs That Might Reliably Detect Environmental Disturbances 172
Problems with Current Sampling Designs 173
Asymmetrical Sampling Design to Detect Environmental Impacts 177
Patterns in Analyses to Detect Environmental Impacts 178
Discussion 190
References 195
SECTION III: EXTENSION OF LOCAL IMPACTS TO LARGER SCALE CONSEQUENCES 198
Chapter 10. Determining the Spatial Extent of Ecological Impacts Caused by Local Anthropogenic Disturbances in Coastal Marine Habitats 200
Spatial Relationships among Physical and Ecological Variables Following a Local Disturbance 202
Life-History Attributes and the Dispersal of Ecological Impacts 208
Conclusions 215
References 217
Chapter 11. Predicting the Scale of Marine Impacts: Understanding Planktonic Links between Populations 220
Larval Transport Processes 222
Larval Attributes Contributing to Dispersal 238
The Relative Importance of Hydrodynamics and Biology 243
Requirements for Individual Monitoring or EIA Programs 245
Conclusions 250
References 251
Chapter 12. Influence of Pollutants and Oceanography on Abundance and Deformities of Wild Fish Larvae 256
Oceanographic Features and the Accumulation of Fish Larvae and Pollutants 257
Abundance Patterns of Fish Larvae in Plumes 259
Vulnerability of Fish Larvae to Pollutants 264
Deformities in Wild Larvae from Plumes 268
Caveats to Quantifying Deformities in Wild Fish Larvae and Other Approaches 268
Discussion 272
References 273
Chapter 13. Consequences for Adult Fish Stocks of Human-Induced Mortality on Immatures 278
Modeling Compensatory Processes in Fish Populations 280
Predicted Consequences of Increased Immature Mortality 285
Impact on Predators 290
Discussion 292
References 296
SECTION IV: THE LINK BETWEEN ADMINISTRATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDIES AND WELL-DESIGNED FIELD ASSESSMENTS 300
Chapter 14. The Art and Science of Administrative Environmental Impact Assessment 302
Administrative Environmental Review 303
Scientific Data Collection and Analyses in Environmental Impact Reports 309
The Need for Better Scientific Feedback in the EIA Process 312
Conclusions 313
References 314
Chapter 15. On the Adequacy and Improvement of Marine Benthic Pre-Impact Surveys: Examples from the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf 316
Structure of the Review 317
Review Findings 318
Discussion 325
Conclusions 332
References 334
Chapter 16. Organizational Constraints on Environmental Impact Assessment Research 338
The Opportunity 339
Project Uncertainties 340
Institutional Uncertainties 344
Conclusions and Lessons 347
References 348
Chapter 17. Administrative, Legal, and Public Policy Constraints on Environmental Impact Assessment 350
Resolving Conflict through Comprehensive Environmental Assessment: The U.S. Offshore Oil Leasing Program 351
The Limitations of Public Environmental Assessment 354
Conclusion 362
References 363
Chapter 18. Predicted and Observed Environmental Impacts: Can We Foretell Ecological Change? 366
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station 367
Predicted Impacts 370
The Impacts That Were Detected 378
Predicted Effects versus "Reality" Do We Get It Right? 382
Conclusions and Recommendations 387
References 389
Glossary of Acronyms, Assessment Designs, and Organizations 392
Contributor Biographies 398
Author Index 404
Subject Index 412