The 2009 Workshop for the Association of Mid-Atlantic Aquatic Biologists (AMAAB) is scheduled for April 1-2, 2009 at CacaponState Park near Berkeley Springs, WV. We are planning a full day of presentations on Wednesday. Mini workshops will be held on Thursday morning. The host for this year's workshop is the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DE DNREC).
The procedures for offering presentations have not changed from previous years and are explained in the call for presentations.
This year, pre-registration for 2009 AMAAB Workshop should be sent to Delaware as the host State. You may contact me by email at ellen.dickey@state.de.us, by phone at 302-739-9942 or by fax at 302-739-3491 or, Mark Crane atthe same number.Please send your contact information that includes name, address, telephone number and email address, and reference the "Biologists' Workshop 2009" in the subject line when responding. There will be a registration fee of $50 that includes an evening social (hot and cold buffet) on Wednesday, April 1. Payment may be made by cash or personal and agency checks made payable to AMAAB. We regret that we will not be able to accept credit cards.
Onsite Registration: Tuesday, March 31 -- 7:00-8:00pm Wednesday, April 1 -- 8:00am-all day
Cash or checks will be accepted upon registration onsite. Please leave one of your business cards at the registration table so we can update our mailing list. It is important that we get an updated email address from members because we have made the transition to conducting all business by email and website postings instead of by traditional paper mailings.
There will be a continental breakfast offered on Wednesday morning (coffee, Danish, juice). For those desiring a full breakfast, the restaurant will open Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 7:30 a.m. To eliminate delays at lunch on Wednesday, tickets will be sold ($9.00) at registration for a lunch buffet at the lodge restaurant which includes soup, salad, sandwich, dessert and drinks.
We are working on putting together a photo gallery of our last meeting. If you have any digital photos from the 2008 meeting you would like to share, please send them to Katherine Laycock (klaycock@dnr.state.md.us).
Check back periodically for updates. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop.
Best regards,
Ellen Dickey Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Environmental Scientist - Division of Water Resources
2009 AMAAB Agenda
7:00 – 8:30 PM Early registration: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
DAY 1 AGENDA: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009 Washington/Fairfax Room
3:30-4:30 Marcellus Shale Issue TBD Marcellus Shale Committee - Industry Perspective Amy Bergdale US EPA Region III - Federal Perspective Brian Chalfant, PA DEP; TBD, WV DEP – State Perspective Group discussion
6:00-8:00 Social – Downstairs conference room
7:00-8:00 Poster Session- Morgan Room
8:00-9:00 Doug Wood Presentation - Washington Room
Posters On display all day Wednesday
Just Say No to Didymo: A Collaborative Survey of ‘Rock Snot’ Occurrence in the Gunpowder Falls, Maryland Ronald Klauda & Katherine Laycock, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (rklauda@dnr.state.md.us) Dennis Genito, Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management
Bioindicator Products to Support Mid-Atlantic Biologists Wayne Davis, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Information (davis.wayne@epamail.epa.gov)
Visualizing the Marcellus Drilling Process Amy Bergdale, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Monitoring and Assessment, (bergdale.amy@epa.gov)
Using the Virginia Stream Condition Index to Evaluate the Condition of Virginia’s Non-coastal Stream Restoration Projects Sean Sipple, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (ssipple@wetlandstudies.com)
Impervious Surface: A Comparison of Estimation Techniques Sara Weglein, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (sweglein@dnr.state.du.us)
Effect of Riparian Buffer Width on Indices of Biotic Integrity in Urban Streams Luke Roberson, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (lroberson@dnr.state.md.us)
Diversity-Stability Analysis of MBSS Data Ann Schenk, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (aschenk@dnr.state.md.us)
VENDORS:
Ecoanalysts, Inc.
Fondriest Environmental Monitoring Products
DAY 2 AGENDA: THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 - Workshops The Mid-Atlantic States Regional Wetlands Assessment 8:00 - 12:00, Meeting room next to lobby, then outside Fondriest Multimeter 101: Fondriest Environmental Monitoring Products 8:30 - 12:00, Washington Room NPDES and WET (Bioassays) 8:30 - 12:00, Fairfax Room Aquatic/Riparian Invasive Plant Identification 8:30 - 11:30, Morgan Room Multivariate Statistics 9:00 - 12:00, Club Room (downstairs) Fish Identification Workshop Module 5 8:30 - 12:00, Downstairs conference room Identification of Larval Crane Flies of North America 8:00 - 12:00, Olde Inn conference room
Fondriest Environmental Monitoring Products (http://www.Fondriest.com) will present a hands-on workshop on the use, maintenance and troubleshooting of multimeter water quality monitoring equipment. As field biologists and students, this will be a valuable workshop to learn the 'ins-and-outs' of these multimeter water quality monitoring units and to be introduced to new technology including remote data acquisition and data manipulation approaches. This will not be just a sales pitch. Rather, it will be a hands-on introduction to the use and maintenance of these meters plus lessons learned on deployment techniques, etc. You will come out of this workshop with a good foundation on the use of these multimeters. The workshop will focus on the YSI brand as outlined on their website.
2. The Mid-Atlantic States Regional Wetlands Assessment Facilitators: Regina Poeske; USEPA, Poeske.Regina@epamail.epa.gov; Amy Jacobs, Delaware Division of Water Resources
The Pennsylvania State University’s Cooperative Wetlands Center (Penn State-CWC) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Center for Coastal Resources Management (VIMS-CCRM) are collaborating to develop and implement a wetlands assessment protocol for the Mid-Atlantic region. The protocol will synthesize rapid assessment methods currently developed for Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, and the upcoming National Assessment to generate a protocol that can be used for probabilistic sampling and characterization of wetlands in each of the major eco-regions of the Mid-Atlantic. The work constitutes the first steps in an effort to establish a continuing monitoring and assessment program for wetland condition throughout the region. The intent is to develop a multilevel assessment protocol that can provide periodic characterizations of wetland condition at multiple geopolitical units (states, regions, and at the national level), as well as the basis for restoration and protection goals. Most of the wetland area in the Mid-Atlantic is associated with headwater streams, and the condition of the stream and its associated wetland should be linked. This workshop will visit a wetland site adjacent to a stream reach that has already been assessed, and will give attendants a field-based experience in executing the rapid wetland condition assessment protocol, and compare its results to that of the stream-based assessment (limit 15 attendees).
3. Aquatic/Riparian Invasive Plant Identification Facilitator: Dr. Tim Block; Morris Arboretum, University of Pennsylvania; block@exchange.upenn.edu
This workshop will focus on the accurate identification of non-native invasive plant species commonly found in aquatic and/or riparian systems. Particular attention will be paid to those detailed features necessary to distinguish the invasive species from the often similar native species in those systems. Both live and preserved material will be available for hands-on examination. A hand lens or magnifying glass will be helpful. (limit 20 attendees)
4. Multivariate Statistics Facilitators: Michael J. Paul, Tetra Tech, Inc., michael.paul@tetratech.com; Amina Pollard, USEPA, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC
Large environmental datasets are often very difficult to analyze, given the number of variables that are often available including biological, physical, and chemical data. Different statistical properties of these variables also confound analysis. How can you find patterns in such a confusing collection of datasets? All is not lost. There are a number of statistical methods that have been developed to analyze such datasets and many are used in environmental assessment. This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to some of the multivariate techniques being used to analyze environmental data – especially biological assessment data. The class will involve detailed descriptions of how some of these techniques work, their applications, assumptions, and limitations. Instructional segments will be followed by hands-on exercises, resources allowing, where participants will have a chance to analyze various types of environmental data using available software programs. Topics to be covered include: cluster analysis, direct gradient analysis (including canonical correspondence and redundancy analysis), indirect gradient analysis (including correspondence analysis, detrended correspondence analysis, non-metric multidimensional scaling, and principal components analysis), multiple regression, classification and regression tree (CART), multivariate analysis of variance, and discriminate function analysis. (limit 15 attendees)
5. Fish Identification Workshop Module 5: Taxonomy and Identification of the Sunfish (Centrachidae) Facilitators: Dan Cincotta, WV Department of Natural Resources; David Thorne, WVDNR; Stuart Welsh, WV University; Rich Raesly, Frostburg State University; Rick Spear, PA Department of Environmental Protection; Lou Reynolds, USEPA-Wheeling; Frank Borsuk, USEPA-Wheeling, borsuk.frank@epa.gov
This is the fifth workshop of a series that will focus on the identification of the freshwater fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Module 5 workshop will focus on the identification of the fishes in the Family Centrachidae. We will break participants out into major drainages within the Mid-Atlantic. The workshop will be a hands-on identification exercise with supplemental powerpoint presentations. (limit 30 attendees).
6. Identification of Larval Crane Flies of North America (Diptera: Tipulidae s.l.) Facilitator: Jon K. Gelhaus, PH.D.; The Academy of Natural Sciences, gelhaus@ansp.org
This 4 hour workshop will focus on the identification of larval crane flies of North America. Dr. Gelhaus will use his illustrated identification manual to North American larvae as a basis for examining the important features used for identification, with particular emphasis on those characters which are often difficult to see or misinterpreted. Lecture material will also give an introduction to the family of flies, the classification, biology and natural history of crane flies, how to sample and preserve specimens for study, the important workers and literature, and other topics. If available, some scopes will be set up with various specimens for examination, and all attendees are encouraged to bring their own microscope and their "problem" specimens for verification and sharing with participants. This is a similar workshop to that offered at the NABS meeting in May 2008 (just shorter). The identification manual will be available to attendees as a download document to be printed out or saved on their laptop before the class. (Participants who can't obtain a hardcopy through a computer download should contact the instructor beforehand; it will be made available for the cost of reproduction).
7. NPDES and WET Facilitator: Amy Bergdale, U.S. EPA Region 3 Office of Monitoring and Assessment, bergdale.amy@epa.gov ; Laura Phillips, U.S. EPA Office of Water
This workshop will provide background and interpretation using Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. Training will include an overview of water quality standards and permits, WET testing methods, WET statistics and data analysis, quality control/quality assurance, reviewing laboratory reports, reasonable potential, permitting, WET compliance and enforcement, and the use of using WET-related tools in other regulatory applications.Examples of Region 3 data will be used to show how WET can be a useful tool in developing standards and permits.
Specific Workshop Questions? Contact Primary Facilitator via email.
If you have any questions concerning the Workshops in general, please contact Ellen Dickey (email: ellen.dickey@state.de.us, (302-739-9942)