Discuss about The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has embarked on National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) to better understand the condition of waters of the US. Please review the NARS project https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys.
There are four resource surveys included in NARS:
National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA)
National Lakes Assessment (NLA)
National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA)
National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA)
NCCA, NLA, and NRSA all have “Data Dashboard” viewers that you can use in this case study. The NWCA should have a dashboard soon, but at the time of class starting it was not available. Further, for each resource survey, there are fact sheets, full reports, maps, and many more resources available online.
Your goal for this assignment will be to present a thorough overview of the current status of US waters using all four surveys in NARS including why these surveys are conducted and what biological indicators are used. To do so, you will build a professional poster using a program such as Microsoft PowerPoint.
Throughout the poster, please use your own words and demonstrate YOUR mastery of the subject. Do *not* paste direct quotes into the assignment. Use APA formatting for citations and use indirect quotes. In this source from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), review the sections on paraphrasing and summarizing: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html. Using direct quotes will not demonstrate your mastery of the concepts and it will result in a decreased grade.
Your task is to create a poster that draws in the audience and has visual appeal. You must be sure you provide scientifically accurate details and identify the primary biological indicators used for each of the four NARS surveys. You will also need to identify which resource has the highest biological integrity and what biological community was used to determine that. NARS also uses chemical, physical, and recreational indicators, but your focus should be on the biological indicators for this case study.
You also must cite all sources used in developing the PSA. Sources must be cited in APA style, including both parenthetical citations and a complete reference list.
This exercise is intended to give students a creative outlet to effectively communicate complex topics in water science. Please contact me with questions or concerns along the way. Note that all APU/AMU students have access to Office 365, which includes PowerPoint. Please pay special attention to the grading rubric to understand how points will be awarded.
Also, here are some useful links for APA style from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL):
In-text citation basics: In-Text Citations: The Basics // Purdue Writing Lab – https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
Reference list citation basics: Reference List: Basic Rules // Purdue Writing Lab – https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
Be sure to explore all the Purdue OWL web pages for help on all citation types!
Submit 1 pdf file for this assignment.
Case Study 1 Grading Criteria
Question
Points
Clear explanation of NARS (i.e., who, what, where, when, why, how)
20
Biological indicators – to include common and unique indicators, i.e., identify if they are used for all, one, or some surveys
20
Aquatic resource with the highest biological condition (e.g., %) and which biological community was used in determination (e.g., fish, vegetation)
10
Creative design and display
20
Professional writing (e.g., spelling, grammar)
20
APA Style
10
TOTAL
100
Points are awarded according to the following scaling:
Exemplary – 10/10 points
Accomplished – 8.5/10 points
Developing – 7.5/10 points
Beginning – 6.5/10 points
Did not attempt – 0/10 points
