Data from 10-day sediment toxicity tests of bed sediments from the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern and Oak Orchard Creek (nearby reference stream), Niagara and Orleans County, New York, respectively. Specifically, the data was used to compare the survival and growth of two macroinvertebrate species in sediments from study sites and laboratory controls. Results are from 10-day sediment exposures of two test species, Chironomus dilutus and Hyalella azteca. Sediment samples were collected from five sites on each stream. Bed-sediments were collected from depositional areas using a petite Ponar (0.03 square meter) dredge. At each site, approximately five grabs were composited into a bucket, mixed, and a 4-liter (L) subsample was stored in a polyethylene container. Sediment toxicity testing were then conducted by a contract laboratory to quantify toxicity with the dipteran, Chironomus dilutus, and the amphipod, Hyalella azteca, during 10-day survival and growth bioassays following USEPA test methods 100.2 and 100.1, respectively. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000, Methods for measuring the toxicity and bioaccumulation of sediment associated contaminants with freshwater invertebrates. Second edition: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development EPA 600/R-99/064. This spreadsheet contains 13 columns. The first 7 columns describe the sample collection information, the remaining 6 columns provide the survival and growth results of two test species used in sediment toxicity tests. The data include the stream name, site ID, latitude and longitude, replicate number, and site type. Six columns of results from 10-day sediment exposures of two test species, Chironomus dilutus and Hyalella azteca. The following endpoints were measured for each species following the 10-day exposure: number of surviving organisms, percentage of organisms surviving (hereafter survival), and average ash-free dry weight of the surviving organisms (hereafter growth).

A data release containing information on macroinvertebrate communities and sediment toxicity in the Buffalo River Area of Concern (AOC) and reference areas immediately upstream of the AOC collected during 2017 and 2020. Macroinvertebrate community samples were collected using bottom-deployed multiplate artificial substrate samplers and organisms were identified to the lowest practical taxonomic resolution and used to calculate metrics of biological integrity following standard New York State Department of Environmental Conservation procedures. Bed sediments were collected using a petite Ponar dredge and used for toxicity tests with two test species, Chironomus dilutus and Hyalella azteca, following USEPA test methods 100.2 and 100.1, respectively. In situ habitat measurements and sediment samples for determination of grain size distribution and total organic carbon concentration were also taken at the time of sample collection at all sites. The data release has four separate tables: one containing site locations and habitat information, one containing the results of 10-day sediment toxicity tests, one containing macroinvertebrate identifications, and one containing standard New York State Department of Environmental Conservation metrics of macroinvertebrate community integrity calculated from the macroinvertebrate identifications. First posted – May 10, 2019 (version 1.0, available from author) Revised – September 17, 2021 (version 2.0) Version 1.0: This version of the dataset contains one table that contains the results of sediment toxicity tests from 2017. All data in Version 1.0 are contained in Version 2.0. Version 2.0: This version of the dataset has four separate tables with data from 2017 and 2020 sampling events: one containing site locations and habitat information, one containing the results of 10-day sediment toxicity tests, one containing macroinvertebrate identifications, and one containing standard New York State Department of Environmental Conservation metrics of macroinvertebrate community integrity calculated from the macroinvertebrate identifications. Additionally, the title of the data release has been changed from "Data for Assessing the Status of Macroinvertebrate Communities and Sediment Toxicity in the Buffalo River Area of Concern, New York" to "Macroinvertebrate community and sediment toxicity data from the Buffalo River Area of Concern, New York (ver. 2.0)". All data in Version 1.0 have been retained in Version 2.0 and are unchanged.

Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection has collected datasets to assess the health of streams since the early 1990s. Datasets include geomorphic stream cross-sectional surveys, fish and benthic macroinvertebrate counts and taxa abundance, and water chemistry data collected at the time of benthic and fish sampling (dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, air temperature, and water temperature). Data span years 1992 to 2020 at five watersheds within the Clarksburg study area. Watersheds include a forested reference site (Soper), an urban site with centralized stormwater management (Crystal Rock), and three treatment watersheds (TR104, TR109, and Cabin Branch) within the Clarksburg Special Protection Area that transitioned from agriculture to suburban development with distributed stormwater management. These data were used to assess the impacts of distributed stormwater management on stream ecosystem function. All datasets were collected by Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection.

This data package contains North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory and Monitoring Program discrete water quality monitoring tabular data collected during 2011-2021 at Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve (EBLA), Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI), Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades National Park (NOCA), and Olympic National Park (OLYM). The protocol, publications, and all other associated links can be found in the project reference at: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2195538. The abundance of rivers and streams is a key characteristic of the NCCN. Ninety-four percent of NCCN is federally-designated wilderness and contains some of the most pristine aquatic habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The prevalence of these resources makes water quality a high ecological and management priority. Rivers and streams integrate the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the watersheds they drain. This puts them at increased risk to a variety of environmental stressors including atmospheric pollution, flow regime changes, and localized disturbances related to land management activities and recreational use. To address risks from a variety of stressors to these systems, the NCCN developed a Water Quality Monitoring Program and protocol that is focused on monitoring the wadable streams that are the most at risk for water quality impairment. Data within this package include sampling locations and event conditions, physical habitat and channel characteristics, human influence descriptors, invasive species observations, and water chemistry parameters. The associated continuous temperature data can be found in the NPS-hosted Aquarius database https://irma.nps.gov/aqwebportal.

This data package contains North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory and Monitoring Program discrete water quality monitoring tabular data collected during 2011-2021 at Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve (EBLA), Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI), Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades National Park (NOCA), and Olympic National Park (OLYM). The protocol, publications, and all other associated links can be found in the project reference at: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2195538. The abundance of rivers and streams is a key characteristic of the NCCN. Ninety-four percent of NCCN is federally-designated wilderness and contains some of the most pristine aquatic habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The prevalence of these resources makes water quality a high ecological and management priority. Rivers and streams integrate the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the watersheds they drain. This puts them at increased risk to a variety of environmental stressors including atmospheric pollution, flow regime changes, and localized disturbances related to land management activities and recreational use. To address risks from a variety of stressors to these systems, the NCCN developed a Water Quality Monitoring Program and protocol that is focused on monitoring the wadable streams that are the most at risk for water quality impairment. Data within this package include sampling locations and event conditions, physical habitat and channel characteristics, human influence descriptors, invasive species observations, and water chemistry parameters. The associated continuous temperature data can be found in the NPS-hosted Aquarius database https://irma.nps.gov/aqwebportal.

This data package contains North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory and Monitoring Program discrete water quality monitoring tabular data collected during 2011-2021 at Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve (EBLA), Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI), Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades National Park (NOCA), and Olympic National Park (OLYM). The protocol, publications, and all other associated links can be found in the project reference at: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2195538. The abundance of rivers and streams is a key characteristic of the NCCN. Ninety-four percent of NCCN is federally-designated wilderness and contains some of the most pristine aquatic habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The prevalence of these resources makes water quality a high ecological and management priority. Rivers and streams integrate the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the watersheds they drain. This puts them at increased risk to a variety of environmental stressors including atmospheric pollution, flow regime changes, and localized disturbances related to land management activities and recreational use. To address risks from a variety of stressors to these systems, the NCCN developed a Water Quality Monitoring Program and protocol that is focused on monitoring the wadable streams that are the most at risk for water quality impairment. Data within this package include sampling locations and event conditions, physical habitat and channel characteristics, human influence descriptors, invasive species observations, and water chemistry parameters. The associated continuous temperature data can be found in the NPS-hosted Aquarius database https://irma.nps.gov/aqwebportal.

In 2012, a program was initiated using in-stream and aerial (whole-watershed) liming to improve water quality and Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) recruitment in three acidified tributaries of a high-elevation Adirondack lake in New York State. Concurrently, macroinvertebrates were sampled annually between 2013 and 2016 at 3 treated and 3 untreated reference sites to assess the effects of each liming technique on this community. Macroinvertebrate communities were monitored at 6 study sites: T16, T8A (50 m upstream of lime application point), T8 (50 m downstream of lime application point), T6 (1230 m downstream of the lime application point), and at two unlimed reference streams, T24 and T20. T24 is of similar orientation, drainage area, discharge, and water chemistry as T16 and was selected as a reference site to assess the impacts of the watershed liming. T20 is a relatively well-buffered tributary that was monitored as a reference site for the in-stream liming effort. This dataset includes macroinvertebrate community data from 4-years (2013-2016) of macroinvertebrate sampling using artificial substrate basket samplers at six sites on tributaries to Honnedaga Lake, NY. Baskets were deployed in pairs at five stations (replicates) distributed longitudinally within each site (10 total baskets per site) and were placed on the bottom in pools where they were unlikely to become desiccated during water level fluctuations. Baskets were deployed between May 12 and May 16 and retrieved between July 10 and July 17 during each year, resulting in a colonization period of approximately two months. At the end of the colonization period, macroinvertebrates were extracted from each basket through a shaking and rinsing process. The contents from each pair of baskets were preserved together in 95-percent ethanol, resulting in 5 replicate samples collected from each site. A 200-organism subsample, or an exhaustive pick when less than 200 organisms were present, was sorted from each replicate using a gridded tray and identified to the lowest possible taxonomic resolution (usually genus or species). These identifications were then used to generate metrics of macroinvertebrate community condition for subsequent analyses. Data are provided in CSV and XLSX (MS Office 2013) format, a sample site location map is also provided (latitude/longitude datum and projection: NAD 1983 UTM Zone 18N).

This data release contains bioassay data from sediment toxicity tests conducted by the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) with 66 sediment samples collected from in and around the Upper Columbia River in the fall of 2013. Toxicity testing was conducted from fall 2013 through summer 2014 with the amphipod, Hyalella azteca, the midge Chironomus dilutus, and the mussel Lampsilis siliquoidea. Short-term toxicity endpoints (10-28 d) included survival, weight, and biomass of all test organisms. Long-term tests with amphipods (42 d) and midges (about 50 d) included reproduction endpoint. Sediments were analyzed for physical and chemical characteristics, including particle size distribution, total organic carbon, acid volatile sulfide, slag content, and concentrations of metals in total-recoverable and simultaneously-extracted fractions. Porewaters were separated by centrifugation and by peepers (diffusion samplers) and were analyzed for filterable metals, dissolved organic carbon, and major ions. These data are intended to be used to characterize concentration-response relationships between metals concentrations and toxicity endpoints and to estimate site-specific toxicity thresholds for select metals or metal mixtures. These thresholds will be used to evaluate risks or injuries to the benthic invertebrate community associated with exposure to contaminated sediments and to develop goals for remediation of sediments of the Upper Columbia River.

This dataset is comprised of water quality data and benthic macroinvertebrate data collected from basins in Colorado, USA, and Finland. The data includes ancillary water quality characteristics but also a suite of trace metals observed at each site. Also included are modeled outputs that characterize the bioavailability of each trace metal to a biotic ligand. These data were used to explore the importance of metal toxicity and pH as stressors on benthic macroinvertebrates characterized as the number of unique Ephemeroptera + Plecoptera + Trichoptera genera observed at each site. An interpretive summary of the work follows. One of the primary goals of biological assessment of rivers is to identify whether contaminants or other stressors limit the ecological potential of running waters. Quantitative relationships between species richness and environmental gradients are useful to better understand biodiversity patterns. Many studies have focused on the effects of pH and high metals concentration on freshwater macroinvertebrate community but, due to data limitation and the lack of tools, the ecological effects of metals mixture in streams are less studied and still unclear. We address an old question: is it the low pH or the metals that are deleterious for stream ecosystems? With new tools, we can achieve improved understanding of the true importance of the two stressors. Our study quantified the limiting effects of pH and chronic metal toxicity for macroinvertebrate community richness. We verified that current environmental quality standards for metals are protective of aquatic biodiversity and proved that pH has a direct limiting effect on richness and it not acts only via modifying the availability and the toxicity of metals. These questions were applied to a dataset spanning two continents and diversity of geologies and ecosystems providing a broad basis for understanding how physico-chemical conditions limit global freshwater biodiversity.

Sediment samples and samples for water-toxicity testing were collected during 2014 from several streams in San Antonio, Texas known locally as the Westside creeks (Alazán, Apache, Martínez, and San Pedro Creeks) and from the San Antonio River. Samples were collected once during base-flow and again after periods of storm-water runoff (post-storm conditions) to determine baseline sediment- and water-quality conditions. Streambed-sediment samples were analyzed for selected constituents, including trace elements and organic contaminants such as pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated flame retardants, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).