An evaluation of biotic indices and habitat suitability scores for classifying littoral habitats / W.D. MacLeod, C.K. Minns, A. Mathers and S. Mee.: Fs97-4/2334E-PDF

"Degradation of nearshore habitats through human activity in the Great Lakes basin is prompting fish and wildlife habitat managers to integrate nearshore habitat management plans with more traditional approaches to urban and regional planning. To support the development of a nearshore habitat management plan for the Bay of Quinte, a pilot study was undertaken using ground level and remote sensing inventories of the nearshore habitat of Potter's Point in the Bay of Quinte. The study area was mapped and scored into habitat types based upon substrate and submerged aquatic vegetation. Each habitat type was assigned two Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores based upon seine netting and electrofishing results. A third habitat scoring system was derived from a spawning habitat survey and assigned to each habitat type. Habitat scores were scaled to reflect area weightings and the resulting scores were mapped onto three habitat maps of the Potter's Point nearshore area. The spawning, seining and electrofishing habitat maps were then combined to produce a habitat map depicting overall IBI scores for the Potter's Point study area. The habitat evaluation process described in this paper provides a workable and relatively unbiased method of classifying nearshore habitat. Strengths of the process include its reliance on physical habitat data which is relatively easy to sample and more constant over time than biological data. After the relationship between habitat variables and IBI scores has been validated by other studies, the process may be used to guide shoreline development. Future work must concentrate on the analysis and development of models which combine the IBI scores from spawning, seining and electrofishing habitat maps into an objective and defensible overall habitat map"--Abstract, page iv.

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