Science tools for proposed biointegrity-biostimulatory policy to be released this summer

Posted May 4, 2018

SCCWRP and its partners will begin soliciting public comments this summer on a series of new scientific tools and synthesis reports that will form the technical backbone for a proposed statewide stream biointegrity-biostimulatory policy.

The State Water Board intends to use the science products to craft a regulatory program that better protects the biological integrity of California’s wadeable streams and that more effectively restricts nutrients from stimulating excess algal growth.

Products scheduled for release this summer include:

» Algal Stream Condition Index (ASCI), a scoring tool that uses algae in streambeds to evaluate stream health.

» Biological Condition Gradient, a modeling analysis of California streams intended to help managers set numeric biostimulatory targets based on how benthic invertebrate and algal communities respond to increasing stress.

» Developed landscapes models, a computer modeling tool that predicts the degree to which stream biointegrity scores are likely to be limited, or “constrained,” by urban and agricultural development.

» Biostimulatory stress-response models and synthesis, a series of reports that chronicles the empirical modeling approach being proposed to link stream biointegrity endpoints to eutrophication endpoints, including benthic algal biomass, organic matter content and nutrient loading targets.


More news related to: Bioassessment, Eutrophication, Harmful Algal Blooms, Indices of Biotic Integrity