Table 3-3. Logistical requirements for sampling and processing of benthic macroinvertebrates by EMAP-E in the 

 Louisianian Province. 



Field 

 Personnel 



Vehicles 



Training 



Travel 



Sampling Gear 

 Data Transport 



Laboratory 

 Facilities 



Laboratory 

 personnel 



3 Teams consisting of 2 crews with 5 members each (1 crew chief, 2 boat crew 

 members, and 2 shore crew members) 



1-ton, 4WD, dual rear wheel pickup truck with heavy duty, dual axle trailer (with brakes, winch, 

 spare tire and rollers) 



25-foot SeaArk work boat equipped with 7.5 L gas engine fitted with Bravo II outdrive, an "A" 

 frame boom assembly and hydraulic winch. On-board electronics included Loran C, 2 VHF 

 radios, radar, compass, and depth finder. 



Mobile laboratory - 15-foot truck equipped with VHF radio, GRiD laptop computer, shelves, 

 and work bench. 



Full-size panel van for transporting crew members. 



A 2-week training course is mandatory for all crew members. Crew members must show 

 proficiency in towing and launching the boat, using navigation equipment, locating stations, 

 entering and retrieving data from computers, using all sampling gear, first aid, and safety. 



The two crews comprising a team worked alternating 6-day schedules. Extensive travel from 

 the Field Operations Center to the staging area was required of all crews (as much as 1000 

 miles by road, trailering the boat). Site reconnaissance was performed prior to initiation of 

 field activities in order to determine locations of boat ramps and hotels and to identify any 

 stations unsuitable for sampling. 



Stainless steel Young-modified Van Veen grab sampler (self-leveling with a hinged top) 



Samples were transferred from 0.5 mm sieve to wide mouth Nalgene bottles and preserved 

 with 10% buffered formalin containing Rose Bengal stain. Bottles are labeled with bar code, 

 packed individually in ziploc plastic bags and placed into shipping container. Samples were 

 shipped via Federal Express to the benthic sample processing laboratory. 



State-of-the-art benthic processing laboratory equipped with compound and 



dissecting microscopes, magnifying lights, computers for data entry, complete specimen 



voucher collection. 



3 benthic taxonomists, 3-5 student sorters, 1 Ph.D. level benthic ecologist /supervisor. 



Information management was thoroughly addressed in EMAP-E and one of its major goals was to disseminate 

 the data to the public in a timely manner. This goal requires that the data be collected with adequate sample 

 tracking methods and that It is stored in a standardized format that is made easily accessible to the public. All 

 samples that were collected by EMAP-E were tracked via a bar code system from the field to the laboratory. 

 At the laboratory, benthic taxa identifications and counts were handwritten onto data sheets that were then 

 transcribed into an electronic dBase® file. This file was sent via e-mail to the EMAP-E data manager who 

 translated the data into SAS® format. All data manipulations and calculations of the benthic index were 

 accomplished using SAS® on an Intel® PC. EMAP-E data is currently stored in three venues: 1 ) as SAS® data 

 sets on a Windows® NT server at the Louisianian Province office, 2) as Oracle 7™ DBMS files on a Windows® 

 NT server at the Louisianian Province office, and 3) as ASCII text downloadable files on the EMAP web page 

 (http://www.epa.gov/emap) which is housed on a server at the centralized EMAP information Management 

 (EMAP-IM) office. EMAP-IM produced an information management plan as an evolving document to outline 

 EMAP's strategy for maintaining, archiving, and distributing all of the data collected by EMAP (Hale et al. 

 1998). In addition to the data sets, metadata files are cataloged that describe methods, contacts, quality 

 assurance, and other information pertinent to the data. 



3-11 



