ENGINEERING SERVICE CENTER Port Hueneme, California 93043-4370 TECHNICAL REPORT TR-2245-ENV DEVELOPMENT OF A STANDARDIZED APPROACH FOR ASSESSING POTENTIAL RISKS TO AMPHIBIANS EXPOSED TO SEDIMENT AND HYRDIC SOILS Prepared by: ENSR International May 2004 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Printed on recycled paper Form Approved REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE OMB No. 0704-0811 The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information, it if does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From – To) May 2004 Final 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER DEVELOPMENT OF A STANDARDIZED APPROACH FOR ASSESSING POTENTIAL RISKS TO AMPHIBIANS EXPOSED 5b. GRANT NUMBER TO SEDIMENT AND HYDRIC SOILS 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER John Bleiler, Dave Pillard, David Barclift, Amy Hawkins, and Jason Speicher 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESSES 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER ENSR International 2 Technology Park Drive TR-2245-ENV Westford, MA 01886-3140, USA 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITORS ACRONYM(S) Commander Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center rd 1100 23 Ave 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) Port Hueneme, CA 93043-4370 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT The guidance manual presents a standardized two-tiered risk assessment protocol for evaluating potential risks to amphibians. The Tier I Amphibian ERA Protocol comprises a screening level ERA. This approach uses readily available information to identify potential amphibian exposure pathways at a site and determine which exposure pathways are potentially complete. The Tier 1 protocol includes effects-based and background screening steps to determine whether or not potentially complete exposure pathways have the potential to pose a significant environmental risk. Ultimately, the results of the Tier 1 protocol are used to determine whether or not additional amphibian ERA is warranted. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Amphibian, soil, sediment, remediation, ecological risk assessment (ERA) 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF 18. NUMBER OF 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON PAGES a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE ABSTRACT U U U U 339 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (include area code) Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8/98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) Port Hueneme, California DEVELOPMENT OF A STANDARDIZED APPROACH FOR ASSESSING POTENTIAL RISKS TO AMPHIBIANS EXPOSED TO SEDIMENT AND HYDRIC SOILS FINAL Deliverable No. 5: Amphibian Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance Manual March 2004 Document Number 09070-045-419 CV03025_A ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document was prepared by ENSR International (ENSR) for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC). Numerous people from ENSR contributed to the development of this guidance manual including: John Bleiler (Project Manager); Dave Pillard (Lead Aquatic Toxicologist), Doree Dufresnee, Christine Archer, Kristen Wandland, Andrea Desilets, and Joan Tracey. Members of NAVFAC's Risk Assessment Workgroup (RAW) have made significant contributions to this document by providing technical input, review, and direction throughout the project. Specifically, those members include David Barclift, Amy Hawkins, D.B. Chan, Ed Corl, Ruth Owens, Lisa Yeutter, and Jason Speicher. This guidance manual has also gone through a peer review process by independent experts in the field of ecological risk assessment and amphibian ecology/toxicology. In particular, NAVFAC would like to acknowledge the insightful technical review comments provided by Ihor Hlohowskyj (Argonne National Laboratory), Greg Linder (U.S. Geological Service), Ken Munney (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Patti Tyler (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and Mark Johnson (U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine). Amphibian Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance Manual Q:\mw97\Projects\9070045\419\acknowledgement.doc TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................... ES-1 SECTION 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1-1 1.1 Project Scope .................................................................................................................. 1-1 1.2 Project Background......................................................................................................... 1-1 1.3 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................... 1-3 1.4 Tiered Framework for Amphibian Risk Evaluation ....................................................... 1-5 1.5 Document Organization.................................................................................................. 1-7 SECTION 2.0 AMPHIBIANS AS ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS ..................................... 2-1 2.1 Amphibian Classification................................................................................................ 2-1 2.2 Amphibian Physiology.................................................................................................... 2-1 2.3 Amphibian Breeding Ecology......................................................................................... 2-2 2.4 Habitat Use ..................................................................................................................... 2-5 2.5 Amphibian Trophic Status .............................................................................................. 2-5 2.6 Other Stressors................................................................................................................ 2-7 2.7 State of the Science......................................................................................................... 2-8 SECTION 3.0 TIER I INITIAL EVALUATION................................................................... 3-1 3.1 Initial Evaluation of Habitat Quality............................................................................... 3-1 3.2 Effects Based Screening ................................................................................................. 3-7 3.3 Refinement of Chemicals of Potential Ecological Concern.......................................... 3-11 3.4 Recommendations......................................................................................................... 3-18 SECTION 4.0 TIER II REFINED EVALUATION ............................................................... 4-1 4.1 Abiotic Media Sampling and Screening ......................................................................... 4-1 4.2 Amphibian Toxicity Testing........................................................................................... 4-2 4.3 Field Surveys .................................................................................................................. 4-5 4.4 Bioaccumulation Evaluations ......................................................................................... 4-6 Amphibian Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance Manual i Q:\mw97\Projects\9070045\419\TOC.doc SECTION 5.0 SUMMARY....................................................................................................... 5-1 SECTION 6.0 LITERATURE CITED.................................................................................... 6-1 APPENDIX A EXAMPLE FIELD EVALUATION FORMS APPENDIX B LITERATURE REVIEW & INTERPRETATION ATTACHMENT B-1 CALCULATION OF LINEAR REGRESSION APPENDIX C SOP DEVELOPMENT ATTACHMENT C-1 SOP APPENDIX D SOP VALIDATION ii Amphibian Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance Manual Q:\mw97\Projects\9070045\419\TOC.doc LIST OF TABLES Table 3-1 National and Regional Amphibian Natural History and Taxonomic References.............................................................................. 3-3 Table 3-2 Sediment Screening Benchmarks.................................................................... 3-9 Table 3-3 Surface Water Screening Benchmarks......................................................... 3-10 Table 3-4 Summary of Surface Water Toxicity Studies .............................................. 3-13 Table 3-5 Comparison of Surface Water Screening Benchmarks to Calculated Centiles ............................................................................................................ 3-15 Table 3-6 Summary of NOECs and LOECs – Lethal Endpoints................................ 3-16 Table 3-7 Summary of NOECs and LOECs – Sublethal Endpoints........................... 3-17 Table 4-1 Critical Body Residues