MBSS Site Summary for: FR-P-111-134-96


Located on MONOCACY R UT3 in the Upper Monocacy River watershed, 8-digit code: 02140303.
This stream was visited in the spring on 3/14/1996 and again in the summer on 7/2/1996.

Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) Results:

An Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) is a scientific tool used to identify and classify stream health. An IBI associates anthropogenic influences on a stream or with biological condition in the stream, and is formulated using data developed from biosurveys.
Details on the development and application of MBSS IBIs are in this document.
Fish IBI Poor - 2.7 / 5.0
Benthic IBI Poor - 1.5 / 5.0

Land Use

Land use can provide important information for determining stream health.
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Catchment area 315 acres Cows standing in a stream at a site with high agricultural land use. Cows survey the sampling procedure at this extreme example of a highly agriculturalized site.
Urban Land Use 0 %
Agricultural Land Use 94.9 %
Forested Land Use 5.1 %


Stream showing woody debris, logs, and rocky substrate.
An example of woody debris in a stream.

Physical Stream Habitat
Instream Habitat 10/20 (Marginal)
Epifaunal Substrate 6/20 (Marginal)
Velocity/Depth Diversity 6/20 (Marginal)
Pool Quality
Pool Extent = meters 		16/20 (Optimal)
Riffle Quality 8/20 (Marginal)
Shading 10 %
Embeddedness 90 %
The embeddedness, a measure of silt on the stream bottom, was 90%. This is relatively high, and may exclude some biota.


Stream Water Quality:
Water temperature 25.4 ° C
Dissolved oxygen (DO) 8.6 mg/L
pH (lab) 7.08
Conductivity 300 µmho/cm
Alkalinity
(acid neutralizing capacity) 		526.6 µeq/L
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) 3.6 mg/L

Biological Stream Condition:

Surveys of the organisms living within a stream can give indications of stream health. Species richness, or the number of different species present, as well as indicator species (species whose presence, absence or abundance can serve as a measure of environmental conditions) are informative for stream health. 		Close-up of a mayfly indicator species.

Fish Survey Results:
The following 9 fish species were collected.
Sensitive taxa: Green, Tolerant: Red, Intermediate: Gold.
Common name Count
Creek Chub 78
Bluntnose Minnow 64
Green Sunfish 42
White Sucker 35
Central Stoneroller 18
Blacknose Dace 6
Bluegill 3
Banded Killifish 2
Largemouth Bass 1
Biologists sampling fish communities.
Electrofishing to sample fish communities.

Amphibians and Reptiles:
Northern Green Frog

Crayfish:
Orconectes virilis

Exotic Plants:
No exotic plants noted.
 

Benthic Macroinvertebrates:
Sensitive taxa: Green, Tolerant: Red, Intermediate: Gold.
Genus/Family Common Name Count
Stegopterna Black Fly 85
Prosimulium Black Fly 11
Orthocladius Non-Biting Midges 3
Paracapnia Small Winter Stonefly 2
Endochironomus 1
Peltodytes Crawling Water Beetle 1
Kick net sampling for macroinvertebrates.
Sampling with a kick net.

Information disclaimer: The information and data on this page is for guidance and general planning purposes only. It should not be used to make decisions on specific matters.