Biological Assessment and Criteria presents a state-of-the-art overview of the applications of biological assessments and biocriteria for water quality management in fresh waters. The book presents case studies which illustrate how bioassessment has been used to identify and diagnose water quality problems. It also provides examples of the use of qualitative and quantitative biocriteria as regulatory tools to complement water quality criteria and standards. The first book to present the technical foundation, rationale, program and policy relevance, and legal basis for the most accurate tools used to assess freshwater natural resource and regulatory efforts, this book provides useful and timely information for water quality managers.

Although upwards of 50,000 Environmental Assessments (EA) are prepared annually, the focus of the National Environmental Policy Acts (NEPA) Regulations is clearly on defining requirements for preparing environmental impact statements. Surprisingly, until now, there has been no authoritative and comprehensive guide on how to prepare Environmental As

This book examines the application of fish community characteristics to evaluate the sustainability and biological integrity of freshwaters. Topics include perspectives on use of fish communities as environmental indicators in program development, collaboration, and partnership forming; influence of specific taxa on assessment of the IBI; regional applications for areas where the IBI had not previously been developed; and specific applications of the IBI developed for coldwater streams, inland lakes, Great Lakes, reservoirs, and tailwaters.