Hierarchical classification of stream condition: a house–neighborhood framework for establishing conservation priorities in complex riverscapes

Autor: J. Todd Petty, George T. Merovich, Michael P. Strager, Jennifer B. Fulton
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: Freshwater Science. 32:874-891
ISSN: 2161-9565
2161-9549
DOI: 10.1899/12-082.1
Popis: Despite improved understanding of how aquatic organisms are influenced by environmental conditions at multiple scales, we lack a coherent multiscale approach for establishing stream conservation priorities in active coal-mining regions. We classified watershed conditions at 3 hierarchical spatial scales, following a house–neighborhood–community approach, where houses (stream segments) are embedded within neighborhoods (Hydrologic Unit Code [HUC]-12 watersheds) embedded within communities (HUC-10 watersheds). We used this information to develop a framework to prioritize restoration and protection in two HUC-8 watersheds in an intensively mined region of the central Appalachians. We used landscape data to predict current conditions (water chemistry and macroinvertebrate biotic integrity) for all stream segments with boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis. Mining intensity, distance to mining, and coal type were the dominant predictors of water quality and biological integrity. A hardness–salinity di...
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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