ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING: Regional Lake Trophic Patterns in the Northeastern United States: Three Approaches

/ During the summers of 1991-1994, the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) conducted variable probability sampling on 344 lakes throughout the northeastern United States. Trophic state data were analyzed for the Northeast as a whole and for each of its three major ecoregions-the Adirondacks (ADI), the New England Uplands (NEU), and the Coastal Lowland and Plateau (CLP)-and inferred to the entire population of lakes >/=1 ha (N = 11,076). Results were compared to a large, nonrandomly sampled data set for the same area compiled by Rohm and others and contrasted with lake trophic state information published in the National Water Quality Inventory: 1994 Report to Congress [305(b) report. Lakes across the entire Northeast were identified by EMAP data as 37.9% (+/-8.4%) oligotrophic, 40.1% (+/-9.7%) mesotrophic, 12.6% (+/-7.9%) eutrophic, and 9.3% (+/-6.3%) hypereutrophic. Lakes in the ADI and NEU generally are at a low, nearly identical trophic state (96% oligotrophic/mesotrophic), while those in the CLP are much richer (45% eutrophic). EMAP results are similar to results of the Rohm data set across the entire region. In the CLP, however, EMAP identified approximately 45% of the lakes as eutrophic/hypereutrophic, while the Rohm data set identified only 21% in these categories. Across the entire Northeast, the 305(b) report identified a much higher proportion (32.2%) of lakes in eutrophic condition and a much smaller proportion (19.8%) in oligotrophic condition than did the EMAP survey data (12.5% +/- 7.9% and 37.9% +/- 8.5%, respectively). Probability sampling has several advantages over nonrandom sampling when regional resource condition assessment is the goal.KEY WORDS: Lake trophic state; Phosphorus; Probability survey; Regional condition