MERS Experimental Stream Facility Database

Abstract

To support guidance for the development of experimental designs for the Monticello Ecological Research ' Station (MERS) artificial streams, historical databases have been compiled, and the spatial and temporal variability of physical and biological measurements have been quantified. Databases have been constructed of chemical and biological variables measured during the course of experiments in the MERS streams conducted over a 15-year period, 1975-1989 (Table 1; USEPA and Univ. of MN 1990). Data from these experiments were supplemented with water, quality monitoring data collected by Northern States Power (NSP) near their cooling water intake on the Mississippi River at Monticello during 1968-1987 (NSP 1987) . This water intake for the Monticello nuclear power plant also serves as the main source of water for the eight experimental stream channels. Water quality data collected from the Mississippi River at the bridge on Highway 25 in Monticello by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) monitoring program also are available (Appendix A), but have not been included in datasets or summaries included in this report. Data collected during the course of experiments at MERS have been selectively collated to document the natural variability within and among the MERS experimental streams; thus only pretreatment data, data collected from control channels, or data collected at inlets of control or experimental streams (upstream of chemical additions) have been included. Only data sets with sufficient spatial replication to calculate coefficients of variation for among-channel, among-station (within channel) and within station variability were included. This report describes the format and documentation for these databases, provides summary statistics for spatial and temporal variability in the MERS datasets, and discusses the implications of inter-channel, interstation (pool or riffle), and intra-station variability for future experimental designs at the MERS facility.