Ecological Monitoring Studies

Stone is strongly positioned to conduct a wide variety ecological monitoring studies aimed at assessing the responses of organisms to environmental stressors at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

We provide support for field testing in compliance with EPA Series 850 Ecological Effects Test Guidelines for aquatic plants, aquatic invertebrates, pollinators, terrestrial plants, and wildlife. Though we specialize in assessing the potential exposure of non-target organisms to pesticides in agricultural settings in the United States, we readily work with clients to develop creative solutions for any monitoring study requiring the collection of abiotic and biological data of the highest quality.

Our staff routinely install monitoring stations to assess abiotic conditions such as weather data and regularly performs studies sampling air, soil, surface water, and groundwater. Stone has combined these institutional skill sets with staff experienced in biological field assessment techniques for terrestrial plants, insect pollinators, aquatic macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, periphyton, zooplankton, freshwater fishes, amphibians, and birds.

The Stone team assists clients with ecological monitoring field studies on many levels – from study design, study directorship, field phase implementation, and quality assurance to exposure modeling, risk assessment, and spatial analysis of data generated from monitoring studies. This unique capacity stems from our ability to seamlessly integrate our field teams with Stone's Environmental Systems Modeling and Geospatial & Data Solutions teams, as well as from our corporate partnership with toxicology and risk assessment firm, Intrinsik Environmental Sciences.

Examples of ecological monitoring studies conducted by Stone staff include:

• Quantifying pesticide residues in surface water, macrophyte, periphyton and plankton samples for determination of watershed-scale effects of an herbicide
• Quantifying pesticide residues in surface water and aquatic macroinvertebrate samples for determination of pond and stream impacts of an insecticide
• Examining the potential for bee pollinator exposure to insecticide residues in nectar, pollen, and leaves treated on farm fields
• Determining bird, bat, and/or anuran species richness across a mixed-use agricultural landscape using bioacoustic monitoring techniques to assess spatial distribution patterns