In the early 1990's, the Pinelands Commission initiated a long-term environmental-monitoring program with the ultimate goal of evaluating the ecological consequences of the Comprehensive Management Plan for the Pinelands National Reserve.  The main objectives of the program are to characterize the effect of existing land-use patterns on aquatic and wetland resources and to monitor long-term changes in these resources.  A study of the Mullica River basin (Zampella et al. 2001), which was the initial focus of the monitoring program, demonstrated that changes in the composition of stream vegetation, fish assemblages, and anuran (frog and toad) communities paralleled gradients of increasing land-use intensity and water-quality degradation.  Based on the results of the Mullica River basin study, Commission scientists completed studies assessing the status of selected aquatic and wetland resources of the Rancocas Creek basin (Zampella et al. 2003) and the Great Egg Harbor River Watershed Management Area (Zampella et al. 2005 ), and the Toms River, Cedar Creek, and other Barnegat Bay tributary basins (Zampella et al. 2006).

           Tulpehocken Creek (left), Batsto Lake (right), and Butterworth Pond (below) represent the types of streams, impoundments, and ponds that were surveyed as part of the Commission's watershed studies.

           The results of the watershed studies revealed that the surface-water quality and biological communities found in forested stream basins generally contrasted with those attributes found in basins with a high percentage of altered land (developed land and upland agriculture).  Acid waters and typical Pinelands biological communities characterized survey sites in forest-dominated stream basins.  Elevated pH and specific conductance and nonnative plant and animal species were associated with stream basins with a high percentage of altered lands.

            Both pH and specific conductance in streams and lakes increased in relation to the percentage of altered land in a drainage basin, and nitrate concentrations were higher in the more heavily altered basins.

Fish Assemblages

            The composition of Mullica River and Rancocas Creek stream-fish assemblages varied along a watershed-disturbance gradient characterized by increasing pH, specific conductance, and the percentage of altered land in a basin.  The percentage of native fish species decreased and the percentage of nonnative species increased along this disturbance gradient.  Similar changes in impoundment-fish assemblages were associated with variations in pH.           

      
  
          Characteristic Pinelands streams and impoundments support native-fish species, such as the  banded sunfish (Enneacanthus obesus) on the left and bluespotted sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus) on the right.

      

          Two nonnative fish species often found in degraded waters are the pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) on the left and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) on the right.

Anuran (frog and toad) communities

          Conditions at Mullica River and Rancocas Creek sites where native anuran species were heard contrasted with those observed at sites that supported non-Pinelands frogs, especially bullfrogs. Compared with the native carpenter frogs, bullfrogs were found at impoundments with elevated pH and specific conductance and a high percentage of altered land in the associated drainage basin.  Strong or consistent relationships between the anuran and fish community gradients and watershed-disturbance variables in the Great Egg Harbor River Watershed Management Area were generally lacking, possibly due to the general absence of minimally disturbed fish or anuran sites and the widespread distribution of nonnative species in the watershed.

      

          The native carpenter frog (Rana virgatipes) on the left and southern leopard frog (Rana utricularia) on the right are usually found in high-quality Pinelands habitats.

     
         
          Nonnative frogs, such as the northern cricket frog (Acris c. crepitans) on the left and bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) on the right, are associated with habitats impacted by land-use-related watershed disturbance.

Stream Vegetation

          In all three major watershed areas, variations in stream-vegetation patterns, represented by a decrease in the percentage of native Pinelands species and an increase in the percentage of non-Pinelands species, were associated primarily with increasing pH, specific conductance, and the percentage of altered land in a basin.  Based on the results of Mullica River studies, several non-Pinelands plants were classified as disturbance-indicator species.

      
         
          Golden club (Orontium aquaticum) (left) is a native Pinelands plant, whereas larger starwort (Callictriche heterophylla) (right) is classified as a disturbance-indicator species.

            Staff scientists are currently completing two other watershed studies.  One study is exploring the effects that abandoned and active-cranberry bogs have on stream-drainage and wetland-landscape patterns, stream flow, and acid-water stream communities, including diatom, macroinvertebrate, fish, and plant assemblages.  The second study is examining the effect of land-use-related watershed disturbance on vegetation, fish, and anurans (frogs and toads) found in Pinelands stream impoundments (lakes and ponds).  Study sites include impoundments in watersheds displaying a range of land-use characteristics.

The Mullica River Basin, a report to the Pinelands Commission on the Status of the landscape and selected aquatic and wetland resources, 2001

The Rancocas Creek Basin, a report to the Pinelands Comission on the status of selected aquatic and wetland resources, 2003

The Great Egg Harbor River Watershed Management Area, a report to the Pinelands Commission on the status of selected aquatic and wetland Resources, 2005

The Barnegat Bay Watershed: a report to the Pinelands Commission on the status of selected aquatic and wetland resources, 2006

New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring Geospatial Data Downloads

These layers include Pinelands-wide anuran, fish, vegetation, and water-quality sites and watersheds associated with the sites.  Below is a brief explanation of the five data layers.  See the metadata for each layer for additional details.  The use of these data should include reference to one or more of the appropriate New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring reports listed in the References section below.

New Jersey Pinelands Commission anuran monitoring sites: These data include anuran (frog and toad) sites and associated species presence/absence data collected as part of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring program.  The use of these data should include reference to one or more of the appropriate New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring reports listed in the References section below.

New Jersey Pinelands Commission fish-monitoring sites: These data include fish sites and associated species presence/absence data collected as part of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring program.  The use of these data should include reference to one or more of the appropriate New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring reports listed in the References section below.

New Jersey Pinelands Commission stream-vegetation monitoring sites: These data include stream-vegetation sites and associated species presence/absence data collected as part of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring program.  The use of these data should include reference to one or more of the appropriate New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring reports listed in the References section below.

New Jersey Pinelands Commission water-quality monitoring sites: These data include water-quality sites and median pH and specific conductance values collected as part of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring program.  The use of these data should include reference to one or more of the appropriate New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring reports listed in the References section below.

New Jersey Pinelands Commission monitoring-site watersheds:  These data include watershed boundaries for the New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring program's anuran, fish, stream-vegetation and water-quality monitoring sites. Watersheds were prepared using ArcView software and digital hydrography data (NJDEP 1996). Watersheds were based on USGS HUC14 watersheds and modified where necessary using digital-topographic maps, ArcView software, and on-screen digitizing. Land-use profiles were created for each monitoring site by summing the area of major land-use/land-cover classes (NJDEP 2001) within the watershed. The percentage of developed land, upland agriculture, and altered land (the combined percentages of developed land and upland agriculture) are included for each watershed.  The use of these data should include reference to one or more of the appropriate New Jersey Pinelands Commission Long-term Environmental-monitoring reports listed in the References section below.

References:

NJDEP. 1996. New Jersey geographic information system CD-ROM, Series 1, Volumes 1-4. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Information Resource Management, Bureau of Geographic Information Systems, Trenton, New Jersey, USA.

NJDEP. 2001. NJDEP 1995/97 land use/land cover update, watershed management areas 13-20. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Information Resource Management, Bureau of Geographic Information Systems, Trenton, New Jersey, USA.

Zampella, R. A., J. F. Bunnell, K. J. Laidig, and C. L. Dow. 2001. The Mullica River Basin: a report to the Pinelands Commission on the status of the landscape and selected aquatic and wetland resources. Pinelands Commission, New Lisbon, New Jersey, USA.

Zampella, R. A., J. F. Bunnell, K. J. Laidig, and N. A. Procopio. 2003. The Rancocas Creek Basin: a report to the Pinelands Commission on the status of selected aquatic and wetland resources. Pinelands Commission, New Lisbon, New Jersey, USA.

Zampella, R. A., J. F. Bunnell, K. J. Laidig, and N. A. Procopio. 2005. The Great Egg Harbor River Watershed Management Area: a report to the Pinelands Commission on the status of selected aquatic and wetland resources. Pinelands Commission, New Lisbon, New Jersey, USA.

Zampella, R. A., J. F. Bunnell, K. J. Laidig, and N. A. Procopio. 2006. The Barnegat Bay Watershed: a report to the Pinelands Commission on the status of selected aquatic and wetland resources. Pinelands Commission, New Lisbon, New Jersey, USA.