Ecological Baseline Assessments

Applied Marine Sciences, Inc. (AMS) excels in all phases of aquatic environmental characterizations and baseline assessments. Our professional staff of marine biologists, oceanographers and aquatic scientists have designed and implemented studies of coastal and estuarine environments, intertidal communities, hard and soft bottom benthic communities, fisheries, plankton communities, and emergent vegetation.

AMS has the equipment, vessels and experience to assess and documents standard and state-of-the-art water quality parameters, biological communities, and pollutants in water, sediment, and biota. Our professional staff are experienced in using SCUBA and pioneered many of the techniques for baseline assessments using ROVs and manned submersibles.

AMS and its staff of professional scientists have planned, designed, and performed baseline assessments on every coast of the United States and internationally for private, commercial, industrial and government clients. These assessments have had a variety of objectives, including gathering pre-disturbance baseline data to characterizing a disturbed ecosystem as evidence for a Court of Law. AMS’s staff also have experience characterizing large aquatic ecosystems to establish a biological and chemical baseline for ecological process investigations, and have designed and implemented Natural Resource damage assessment Studies.

Recent Projects in Ecological Baseline Assessment

Baseline Studies of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay
At the request of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, AMS staff reviewed study design for benthic components of a monitoring program associated with one of the largest wastewater discharges in the United States.

Baseline Assessment of the Threatened Aquatic Snail, Tryonia imitator
A permit requirement issued by the California Coastal Commission to the County of Monterey to operate a tide gate which prevents flooding of low-lying upstream agricultural lands, prompted the County to contact AMS to document water quality and population abundance’s of the California Brackish-Water snail, Tryonia imitator.

Regional Monitoring Program for Toxic Contaminants in San Francisco Estuary
AMS is currently managing this program, with a $1,000,000 annual budget for the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board. Read more...