ONTARIO BENTHOS
BIOMONITORING NETWORK
TERMS OF REFERENCE
DRAFT: FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES
March 2004
Version 1.0
<<Insert MOE, Environment Canada and EMAN logos here>>
Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network
Terms of Reference
Version 1.0
March 2004
Report prepared by:
C. Jones1, K.M. Somers1, B. Craig2, and T. Reynoldson3
1
Ontario Ministry of Environment
Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch
Biomonitoring Section
Dorset Environmental Science Centre
1026 Bellwood Acres Road,
P.O. Box 39,
Dorset, ON, P0A 1E0
2
Environment Canada
EMAN Coordinating Office
867 Lakeshore Road,
Burlington, ON, L7R 4A6
3
National Water Research Institute
Environment Canada
Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research
Box 115 Acadia University
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6
2
1 Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the other members of the Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network’s Technical
Advisory Committee who assisted with the development of this document:
 Dave Barton, University of Waterloo
 Robert Bailey, University of Western Ontario
 Judi Brouse, District of Muskoka
 Jack Imhof, Trout Unlimited
 Leo Luong, Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority/Conservation Ontario
 Martha Nicol, Saugeen Conservation/Conservation Ontario
 John Schwindt, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority/Conservation Ontario
 Rod Sein, Ontario Ministry of Environment
 Les Stanfield, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
 Sherwin Watson-Leung, Conservation Halton/Conservation Ontario
Thanks also to our many external reviewers, who represented various government agencies,
conservation authorities, and volunteer groups.
2 Introduction
This document describes the Terms of Reference for the Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring
Network (OBBN), a program co-founded by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and
Environment Canada (both the National Water Research Institute and Ecological Monitoring and
Assessment Network).
2.1 Monitoring and Adaptive Management
The goal of water management is to attain sustainability, a state in which current water uses do
not negate future uses of our aquatic ecosystems. The Executive Resources Group (2001) stated
that there are “two essential reasons for monitoring: to determine ecosystem health and to
determine the effectiveness of environmental management programs”. In the context of water
management, monitoring is the process of evaluating aquatic conditions; it answers two
questions: (1) Does water quality vary over time and space; and (2) are management efforts
resulting in progress toward sustainability (i.e., are aquatic ecosystems minimally impacted)?
To achieve sustainability, water management strategies usually include interrelated programs,
policies, and legislation designed to protect and improve aquatic conditions. Because water
management is complex, we change water management strategies as pressures change (e.g.,
population growth, invading species) and as we better understand past actions. Monitoring
supports this adaptive process by providing feedback on the status of aquatic resources and the
performance of policies, programs, and legislation.
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2.2 The Need for Biomonitoring
Biomonitoring is the process of sampling, evaluating, and reporting on ecosystem condition
using biological indicators. Biomonitoring is an important part of aquatic ecosystem
management because we often measure water management end-points in biological terms (e.g.,
protection of aquatic biota and their habitats) and because Ontario laws and policies use
biological definitions of impairment. The Ontario Water Resources Act states that “the quality of
water shall be deemed…impaired if…the material discharged…causes or may cause injury to
any person, animal, bird or other living thing…”. Similarly, the Environmental Protection Act’s
definition of adverse impact includes a number of biological parts: (a) impairment of the quality
of the natural environment for any use that can be made of it; (b) injury or damage to property or
to plant or animal life; (d) an adverse effect on the health of any person; and (f) rendering any
property or plant or animal life unfit for human use. Furthermore, the Fisheries Act states that no
person shall carry on any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption, or
destruction of fish habitat (i.e. spawning grounds; nursery, rearing, and migration areas; and food
supply).
With respect to policy, the document Water Management Policies Guidelines Provincial Water
Quality Objectives of the Ministry of Environment and Energy [sic] (Ontario Ministry of
Environment and Energy 1994) states “With respect to surface water quality, the goal is to
ensure that the water quality is satisfactory for aquatic life…”. Similarly, the Provincial Policy
Statement (PPS) states that “the quality and quantity of ground water and surface water and the
function of sensitive ground water recharge/discharge areas, aquifers and headwaters will be
protected or enhanced”. The PPS further states that development and site alteration is only
permitted in significant habitats if no negative impacts on the natural features or the ecological
functions will result.
2.3 Benthos as Indicators
Benthos are large, bottom dwelling insects, crustaceans, worms, molluscs and related aquatic
animals. They are good indicators of aquatic ecosystem health because they are sedentary, their
life cycles range in length from months to years, they are easy to collect and identify, they are
responsive to changes in water and sediment quality, they are ubiquitous, and they are not
typically seen as an economic or recreational resource themselves (Mackie 2001). Benthos have
been used extensively to assess water quality in streams and lakes (Rosenberg and Resh 1993,
Rosenberg and Resh 1996).
2.4 Complementarity of Chemical and Biological Monitoring
Biological and water chemistry monitoring approaches are complementary and both are
commonly applied in adaptive water management. In general, biological surveys measure
ecological effects, whereas water chemistry monitoring measures stressors (i.e., environmental
contamination). Biological surveys are suited to impact assessment (i.e., determining the degree
of biological affects in relation to some stressor), whereas water chemistry assessments are often
used to establish the cause of known biological impairments or to assess compliance with
regulatory criteria. A single biological sample provides greater temporal coverage than a single
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water sample because biological community composition integrates biotic responses to
environmental conditions over the entire life cycles of the sampled biota. Biological approaches
measure biotic responses directly, but the specific cause of biotic changes are seldom evident.
Chemical approaches signal changes in environmental conditions but often leave us wondering if
the changes will have biological consequences. Combining chemical and biological information
about aquatic ecosystems permits a more complete assessment of ecosystem health.
2.5 Problem Statement
Many groups in Ontario have used benthos biomonitoring to support water management in their
jurisdictions. In general, there has been little communication among practitioners. Volunteer
groups and agencies have used biomonitoring to generate water quality reports, to support
development of watershed plans, to set rehabilitation targets and evaluate performance of
projects and programs, and to fulfill legislative or policy requirements (such as Department of
Fisheries and Oceans monitoring requirements for harmful alterations, destructions or
disruptions of fish habitat). Despite this large amount of biomonitoring information, spatial
coverage remains insufficient for regional or provincial syntheses. Even if spatial coverage were
adequate, the lack of a shared database and standard protocols would still preclude sharing and
comparing data across regions.
Biomonitoring practitioners have been hindered by lack of communication among practitioners,
discord over sampling and analytical methods, and inconsistent training. Practitioners are also
limited by the prohibitive costs and expertise requirements associated with available methods.
The lack of agreement on protocol, and the lack of a shared database are key barriers to
province-wide aquatic biomonitoring. In addition, there is insufficient financial resources and
manpower within any single agency for implementation of a province wide biomonitoring
program.
3 OBBN Purpose
The objectives of the Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network are:
1. To enable the assessment of lakes, streams, and wetlands using benthic macroinvertebrates
2. To provide a biological performance measure related to management of aquatic
ecosystems
3. To provide a biological complement to the Provincial Water Quality Monitoring
Network, a water chemistry monitoring program that has been operating since the 1960s
4. To facilitate a reference condition approach to bioassessment (in which minimally
expected sites are used to derive a community expectation for a test site)
5. To support development of aquatic biocriteria and a biological water quality index for
Ontario that will contribute to the Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN)
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4 Administration and Implementation
The OBBN is founded on three tenets: partnership, standardization, and free data sharing. The
founding partners are the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) and Environment Canada’s
National Water Research Institute (NWRI) and Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network
(EMAN). The program will be administered by the Ontario Ministry of Environment,
Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch. A Technical Advisory Committee, which is
composed of partner representatives (Figure 1), provides scientific guidance.
MOE - EMRB
(Chair)
MOE
Operations
Environment
Canada
(EMAN )
Conservation
Ontario
(CAs)
Environment
Canada
(NWRI)
Sampling
Partners
MNR
(NGOs, Municipalities,
other Volunteer Groups)
Technical Advisory Committee
Academics
Figure 1: Technical Advisory Committee membership.
The Ontario Ministry of Environment chairs the Technical Advisory Committee, and is
responsible for general program administration (e.g., network coordination, recruiting partners,
ensuring completion of protocol, training and database deliverables, and providing general
technical guidance to participants). Partners participate in collaborative research, collect samples,
analyze data (using a shard database and automated analytical applications) and report their
results (Table 1).
This implementation model is cost-effective, provides outreach, and fosters environmental
awareness among participants. It allows greater coverage than a single agency program can, and
will address the main barriers to biomonitoring in Ontario.
Table 1: OBBN Partner Roles
Partner
Environment Canada
(EMAN and NWRI)
MOE
Conservation Authorities
Contribution
Coordination and integration (especially with CABIN, a
Canada-wide benthos biomonitoring program), recruiting,
equipment, database development, technical committee,
collaborative research, invertebrate identification
OBBN coordinator wages, protocol manual, technical
committee (chair), research, database development, training
materials and workshops, sampling (esp. reference sites)
Technical committee, sampling, collaborative research
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Partner
Contribution
Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources/Ontario Parks
Technical committee, sampling, collaborative research,
protocol development (especially coordination with the Ontario
Stream Assessment Protocol [Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources 2003]),
Sampling, collaborative research, database development,
Private groups (volunteers,
non-governmental
organizations, consultants)
Municipalities
Universities
Technical committee, sampling
Technical committee, sampling, collaborative research
5 Deliverables
To overcome the existing barriers to biomonitoring and promote broad implementation across
Ontario, the OBBN has four components (Figure 2):
1. Standard methods based on the reference condition approach
2. Training
3. A shared internet database of reference and test site data
4. Automated analytical software
Protocols
Training
Ontario Benthos
Biomonitoring
Network
Database
Analytical
Software
Figure 2: Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network Components
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5.1 Protocol
The OBBN protocol (Jones et al. 2004), is a series of methods that facilitate a reference
condition approach to bioassessment. These methods balance standardization (needed to ensure
comparability between datasets) and flexibility (needed to accommodate partners having
different amounts of time, money, and expertise).
5.2 Training
The OBBN training will be delivered primarily through workshops. New network participants
will be invited to participate in introductory workshops and annual workshops for all network
participants will be held. The agenda for annual workshops will include:
 A protocol audit to ensure that protocols are being adequately followed
 A review of any proposed improvements to the network
 Presentations aimed at delivering results of collaborative studies
 Training on benthos identification
Benthos identification is an important training component. We expect new partners or those with
limited expertise and financial resources to enter test site data at a coarse taxonomic level;
however, we encourage participants to build upon their taxonomic expertise so that they can
benefit from potentially increased assessment sensitivity and greater diagnostic power associated
with the use of family or genus/species level identifications. Beyond the training sessions
provided at workshops, we encourage participation in the taxonomic certification program that is
currently being developed by the North American Benthological Society and the U.S. EPA.
Informal technical guidance is also available from the OBBN program coordinator.
5.3 Database and Analytical Software
The OBBN database will be internet accessible and will include a set of tools and forms for data
entry. The database will contain several applications that automate the assessment process: a test
site and reference site selection utility, a mapping utility, a summary metrics calculator, and a
statistical module for hypothesis testing (Figure 3). The site selection, mapping, and analytical
modules will allow partners to generate custom assessment reports (Figure 4).
The OBBN database will be integrated with Environment Canada’s existing Benthic
Invertebrates for Reference Conditions (BIRC) database. We anticipate that most OBBN partners
will use the BIRC/OBBN to store, retrieve and report on their data. For partners that already
have benthos databases, translation software will be built to allow existing databases to
communicate with the BIRC/OBBN database. We will make all attempts to integrate compatible
databases with the OBBN/BIRC database.
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Internet
Front-end
Website With Client Log-in
Data
Storage
Data
Analysis
Reporting
BIRC/OBBN
relational database
Mapping
Utility
Test Site and
Reference Site
Selection Utility
Translation
Software
Partner
Databases
Summary
Metrics
Calculator
Custom Output
(test and reference site location,
summary metrics, hypothesis testing)
Figure 3: Ontario Biomonitoring Network database conceptual model
Figure 4: Sample Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network custom report showing test and
reference site locations, summary metrics, and results of hypothesis testing.
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6
Reporting
We anticipate shared reporting roles among OBBN partners. Multiple scales of reporting are
likely because local groups will report on local water quality, and provincial agencies will
synthesize information at regional and provincial scales. We have not yet established a formal
reporting strategy. A number of joint reporting opportunities will be investigated as the program
develops over the next several years.
7 Schedule
Program development and implementation phases are proceeding concurrently (Figure 5). The
technical committee was assembled in spring 2003 and is anticipated to approve the version 1.0
Protocol Manual (Jones et al. 2004) by spring 2004. Database development is underway; with an
anticipated prototype completion date of March 2004 (fine-tuning will be done as necessary
thereafter). Partner recruiting began in April 2003. Reference site sampling began in May 2003
and is on-going. We request that partners are focus initially on reference site sampling. Test site
sampling will begin in 2005 once a reasonable number of reference sites have been sampled.
Collaborative studies will be used to resolve unanswered scientific questions pertinent to the
development of the network. The results of these studies will be published as technical bulletins,
scientific papers and as appendices to the protocol manual.
2003
2004
2005
2006
DEVELOPMENT
Technical Committee
Protocol
Training Materials
Database
Partner Recruiting
IMPLEMENTATION
Reference Site Sampling
Test Site Sampling
Training Workshop
Collaborative Studies
Figure 5: Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network implementation schedule.
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8 References
Executive Resource Group. 2001. Managing the Environment: A Review of Best Practices.
Ontario Ministry of Environment.
Jones, C. K.M. Somers, B. Craig, and T. Reynoldson. 2004. Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring
Network protocol manual, version 1.0. Ontario Ministry of Environment.
Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy. 1994. Water Management: Policies Guidelines
Provincial Water Quality Objectives of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.
Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2003. Ontario stream assessment protocol, version 5.1.
Mackie, G.L. 2001. Applied aquatic Ecosystem Concepts. Kendall-Hunt Publishing, Dubuque.
Rosenberg, D.M., and V.H. Resh (editors). 1993. Introduction to Freshwater Biomonitoring and
Benthic Macroinvertebrates. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Rosenberg, D.M., and V.H. Resh. 1996. Use of aquatic insects in biomonitoring. Pages 87-97 in
R.W. Merrit, and K.W. Cummins. An introduction to the aquatic insects of North
America (Third Edition). Kendall-Hunt Publishing, Dubuque.
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