VT EPSCoR Streams Project: Highlights & Future Plans Streams Project Symposium April 27, 2009
What is the Streams Project? Collaborative effort by high schools, colleges and community partners around the state to collect water quality data on small streams
Goals of the Project 1) Service to the state of Vermont Collect water quality data on streams of importance to VT 2) Workforce Development Interaction of faculty, undergraduates, high school teachers and students Practical experience in scientific research
Research Questions 1) How does surrounding land use, specifically agricultural, forested and urban land use, affect water quality in small streams? 2) How does water quality change in response to precipitation events?
Participants 2008-2009 High Schools (14) collect biological, physical and chemical data in streams near their schools UVM (7) * work with high schools * do laboratory analysis of water samples * carry out independent project Baccalaureate College Faculty (3) & Undergraduates (14) Complementary research projects with community partners or working with high school data
Colleges involved St. Michael s College Middlebury College Johnson State College Sterling College Norwich University Green Mountain College Universidad Metropolitana University of Puerto Rico (2009-2010) Baruch College, NY (2009-2010) Castleton College (2009-2010)
2008 Accomplishments ~ 30 streams studied throughout Lake Champlain Basin Online database in development 11 undergraduates attended national research meetings: 5 St. Michael s College to Benthic Ecology Conference, Corpus Christi, TX 3 Universidad Metropolitana to SACNAS Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT 3 UVM and 3 St. Michael s students presented posters at NSF EPSCoR National Water Conference, Burlington, VT 1 High School student participated in VT State Science Fair; recognized as one of top 3 environmental projects New Partnerships with Puerto Rico
Galleries specific to school sites Photographic ID help 2008 Accomplishments
Mean number of EPT species per sample lide from Brian Cunningham 2008 Data: Land use, water quality and insects 30 20 10 0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Mean number of E.coli cells per sample
lide from Jackie Cote Average Number of Species 2008 Data: Land use and Species Abudance 18 15 P-value = 0.0016 12 9 6 URBAN FORESTED AGRICULTURE Land Use Figure 1. Average number of benthic macroinvertebrate species collected and identified per land use category in summer months of 2008 for Vermont streams.
2008 Data: E. coli Source Tracking G. Perry, T. Thurston and R. Genter. 2008. Johnson State College
So, what s Next?
Streams Project 2009-2010 17 High Schools 27 Undergraduates 11 from Baccalaureate colleges 8 from UVM 8 from Puerto Rico 7 faculty research projects 1-2 Private Sector Participants
2009-2010 Projects Application of the Index of Biotic Similarity to Streams Project Macroinvertebrate Data (Norwich University) Bioassessment of Wild Branch of the Lamoille River (Sterling College) Chemistry of Dog River Watershed (Norwich University) Development of Biotic Integrity Index using Larval Cyprinidae (Green Mountain College & Castleton College) Development of map-based educational tools for High School students and teachers (Middlebury College) Microbial Source Tracking and Phosphorus in Lamoille River tributaries (Johnson State College) Creating a sequence library for E. coli collected in streams (Middlebury College) Related project: An evaluation of phosphorus flux and effects of land use on macroinvertebrate communities in tributaries of St. Albans Bay (St. Michael s College)
Lexie Reiss Haselton VT EPSCoR Streams Project Symposium 2009 Lexie Haselton, VT EPSCoR
What is spatial analysis? How can we use spatial analysis in the VT EPSCoR Streams Project?
Landscape variables % of land in each land use type % of land with specific soil types Bedrock geology Aspect of catchment area (N, W, E, S orientation) Sinuosity of stream segment upstream Distance of site to point source pollution Elevation, or slope Building density Road density Climate data
Summer Goals: GPS points Map-based discussion of landscape-level variables Ground truthing spatial data by catchment area Compilation of spatial data layers Spatial analysis using field data and spatial data
Special thanks to Christopher Willey, HELiX/EPSCoR Nora Joyal, Troy Krahl, Chris Frieman, Lillian Gamache, VT EPSCoR; and Gayle Bress, HELiX/EPSCoR Sherri Neumann, Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center Lexie Haselton, VT EPSCoR GIS Specialist All of you for coming!