HR: 16:00h
AN: NB14C-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Spatially explicit mapping of potential benthic invertebrate assemblage classes using GIS
AU: * Hill, R A
EM: ryanhill@cc.usu.edu
AF: Department of Aquatic, Watershed, & Earth Resources, Ecology Center, The Western Center for Monitoring and Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems, 5210 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5210
AU: Hawkins, C P
EM: chuck.hawkins@usu.edu
AF: Department of Aquatic, Watershed, & Earth Resources, Ecology Center, The Western Center for Monitoring and Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems, 5210 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5210
AB: A spatially explicit classification of the biological potential of streams is desirable for conservation planning. Such a classification would allow land managers to identify and locate biologically important stream reaches for protection or restoration. Our ability to interpolate stream classes between sampled and unsampled reaches has been limited by the availability of spatial data and algorithms that can accurately estimate local environmental settings at an appropriate resolution. However, the availability of finer resolution digital elevation models is continually increasing along with the development of better algorithms for predicting environmental settings, such as channel slope and valley confinement by hillslopes. We classified a set of training reaches based on their benthic invertebrate assemblages. We then developed a discriminant functions model to predict biological class at other reaches from easily derived map variables, and applied the resulting model to rasterized stream networks within a GIS. We illustrate use of this technique for streams in several ecoregions.
DE: 1824 Geomorphology (1625)
DE: 1848 Networks
DE: 1871 Surface water quality
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions
DE: 9902 NABS Student Award Applied Research
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly