Marine Environmental Sciences Program

Environmental assessments ideally consist of monitoring natural variation or of studying planned environmental modifications, such as the release of heated effluents from a power plant, and their effects. In both cases the kinds of ecological data to collect, degree of replication, frequency of sampling, and so on can be carefully designed. In contrast, unplanned environmental modifications, such as those caused by major oil spills, generally cannot be studied using optimal designs because pre-existing monitoring data are not available as balanced sampling at both affected and unaffected areas. In such cases all that can be done in designing an assessment is to make the best use of available data.