Ecological Impact Assessments

EcoAnalysts has extensive experience with state and federal regulatory agency personnel and regulations, particularly with respect to threatened and endangered species. We excel at combining our expertise in ecology with various construction, operation, and management methods to provide our clients with creative solutions that are readily accepted by regulatory agencies. 

EcoAnalysts surveys and reports always consider regulatory and legal implications, as well as client needs. We provide clients (both government and private industry) with defensible data and expert testimony when needed. 

Bioindicators and Ecotoxicology

EcoAnalysts staff offer clients a unique application of field sampling, marine, estuarine and freshwater aquatic testing, data interpretation, and technical consulting services.

Change in community structure and function can indicate there has been positive or negative impact to environmental conditions, whether by nature or by human action. Biological community indicators, such as fish, invertebrates, plankton and periphyton are widely used to evaluate change in aquatic environments. We house North America’s largest taxonomy services laboratory and our taxonomy lab is one of a very select few laboratories that offers taxonomy services for all groups, including freshwater and marine, under one roof. Our taxonomists are individually certified by the Society of Freshwater Science and we serve as technical experts to inform clients of biological condition, potential causes of impact and the ecological relevance to their projects. EcoAnalysts has been an internationally recognized expert in this specialized field of biological assessment for well over 20 years. 

EcoAnalysts aquatic toxicology laboratory offers bench-scale environmental effects testing, research, and analysis. Compliance and applied research areas include: Whole Effluent Toxicity Testing; Compliance; Monitoring and Testing; Toxicity Identification Evaluations (TIE); Methods Development. Our toxicology laboratory focuses on technology-based solutions and bench-scale environmental effects testing, which it combines with classical field sampling and environmental data analysis. In addition to conducting standardized tests on an array of freshwater and marine organisms, we also develop and employ test methodologies with unique endpoints (such as edema differentiation using early life stages of fish) and new test species (Pacific herring, Arctic cod, the copepod Calanus glacialis, and freshwater mussels). These services have been provided under a variety of regulatory formats, including USEPA and numerous state NPDES permits, as well as international programs necessitating the use of other test protocols. Unique in its design with the ability to provide a continuous flow of natural, filtered seawater, the laboratory has specialized capabilities to replicate environmental conditions from tropic to arctic climates

Habitat Assessments

Habitat availability and condition determines biological community structure. A thorough and complete initial habitat assessment can identify potential diversity constraints and improve project designs and efficiency.  

Habitat can be heterogeneous, which is why EcoAnalysts biologists utilize multiple methods of data collection and analysis in their assessments, including: 

• SCUBA surveys 

• GIS/GPS spatially explicit mapping 

• Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) 

• Aerial surveys with UAV’s 

• Vegetation surveys (aquatic and terrestrial)

• Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBP)

• Fish Habitat Suitability