Sorting, Identification, Enumeration and Verification of Benthic Invertebrate Samples from Great Lakes Areas of Concern

As part of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Great Lakes Action Plan (GLAP), sediment quality assessments are conducted in Areas of Concern (AOC) and reference locations in the Great Lakes. One component of these assessments is the evaluation of benthic invertebrate metrics such as taxon composition and abundance. This information is required to determine current conditions, assess recovery and/or monitor effectiveness of remedial measures that support de-listing of the AOC. Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) Program (http://www.ec.gc.ca/rcba-cabin) is a national program that promotes the collection of comparable data for water quality monitoring and assessment. Comparability of data among projects and across the country requires a level of standardization. The CABIN protocols specify a standardized method for benthic macroinvertebrate collection and sample processing, which includes taxonomic identification and enumeration. With the existing demand for taxonomic services, consistency among taxonomic laboratories and resultant data provided to the national database for long-term monitoring and assessment is critical. ECCC is a supporter of the Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) Taxonomic Certification Program (http://www.sfstcp.com). The use of SFS certified taxonomists, as part of CABIN sample processing protocol, is one step towards ensuring high quality consistent taxonomic data. The restoration of key areas that have been environmentally degraded, known as AOC form part of ECCC’s GLAP. Sediment quality assessments that are conducted in AOC provide the necessary information to promote sediment management plans, provide baseline conditions in areas that are to be remediated and/or to assess recovery in remediated areas. These assessments involve the evaluation of the benthic invertebrate community metrics such as taxon richness and abundance. In 2017, ECCC will collect up to 115 benthic invertebrate samples from the St. Lawrence River (at Cornwall) AOC and from reference sites. The data will be used to assess conditions in the AOC to ultimately allow for reporting on health of benthic invertebrate communities and sediment quality in areas that were identified for monitored natural recovery. To provide reliable, accurate, high-quality taxonomic identification of benthic invertebrates for up to 115 samples collected from the St. Lawrence River (at Cornwall) AOC and reference locations upstream of Cornwall in Lake St. Lawrence. Samples will be collected by ECCC in September 2017 using a mini-box corer (core tubes) or Ponar grab sampler