AOI’s principle investigators have 65 collective years of experience sampling rivers and streams for monitoring watershed health, including sampling water, sediment, and aquatic macroinvertebrate and vertebrate assemblages (fish and amphibians). Our key staff members were instrumental in developing, testing, and implementing the indicators, field gear, site-scale sampling designs, data analyses, and regional and national assessments for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) and its National Aquatic Resources Survey (NARS). We have conducted and designed monitoring surveys in 12 western states and numerous foreign countries including Brazil where we assessed the ecological condition of six large river basins with the assistance of collaborating scientists from 3 Brazilian universities and China where we assisted the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences to develop and implement a pilot study adapted from EMAP/NARS survey techniques. We are fully accustomed with sampling large numbers of difficult-to-access sites distributed across large regions with few roads.
Here are some of the services we can provide:
Water Quality
- Water quality monitoring and study design (water chemistry, temperature, discharge etc.)
- Water quality criteria development
- Macroinvertebrate sampling and processing
- Fish and Macroinvertebrates indexes of biologic integrity
Fish
- Distribution and abundance
- Migration and movement
- Survival and growth
- Spawning and adult escapement
- Habitat use
- Population modeling
- Production estimates
Habitat
- Riparian vegetation and structure
- Overhead cover
- Large wood
- Stream discharge
- Bank Stability