Assessing the Biological Health of Freshwater Ecosystems

I’ve worked with Mary Jo Wevers at ABA for over 25 years. Throughout that time, ABA has provided excellent service and timely processing of aquatic macroinvertebrate samples while I was a manager of the biomonitoring section for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and for work I’ve performed as an independent consultant. Mary Jo and ABA have been a pleasure to work with and continue to provide excellent service and results.

As a small volunteer group, the Cloud Peak Chapter of Wilderness Watch is especially grateful for the helpful, professional attitude of Aquatic Biology Associates. At the startup of our multi-year project, we needed detailed help in many ways, and ABA got us through all the steps from A to Z. ABA’s excellent reputation in the field of macroinvertebrate analysis also ensured acceptance of our data.

Aquatic Biology Associates has performed our taxonomic analysis for the City of Seattle for the past 16 years. I have been very pleased with the high quality of both work and technical assistance. Bob Wisseman has always been willing to explain various aspects of the process, from the best way to preserve and ship the samples to the interpretation of the results. Our samples tend to be different from other areas’ samples since the sample sites are highly urbanized, but that has never been a problem for this lab. I’ve always felt that ABA was willing to go the extra distance to make sure the City got the maximum value out of their biological sampling efforts.

My research lab has been very satisfied over the years with the quality and thoroughness of the data ABA Inc. has provided and with the help Bob has given in interpreting the data and tailoring analysis to fit our project-specific needs.

Aquatic Biology Associates, Inc. has quantified the results of macroinvertebrate samples in the State of Idaho for two large USGS water quality projects: our Statewide Water Quality Network and the Boise River Water Quality and Biological Integrity Sampling Network. Since 1994 the USGS Idaho Water Science Center has received complete and accurate macroinvertebrate data that meet all of our data quality objectives for very reasonable prices. Bob Wisseman has given us personal and professional assistance in identifying objectives for the use of macroinvertebrate data in our water quality studies as well as helped our office in reporting results. Bob is always available to answer any questions posed to him about our data. His lab has also provided quality assurance data to help identify sampling needs to reduce analytical error.

Dr. Wevers benefits ABA clients through a rare combination of scientific expertise and project management experience. I have long been impressed by her acumen in both lab and field settings and her capacity to bring value at all phases of planning, implementing, and reporting for fisheries and macro-invertebrate projects. She is a highly skilled communicator and accomplished in coordinating, managing, and collaborating with diverse groups of people, including scientific colleagues, technical professionals, graduate students, and resource managers.