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Assigning aquatic life use designations Determining causes and sources of
impairment Restorability (antidegradation, priority
setting, TMDLs) 401 – What is the appropriate aquatic life
use? 401 – Will activity cause aquatic life use
impairment?
Using the QHEI
List of factors associated with higher IBIs◦ Warmwater Habitat Attributes
List of factors associated with lower IBIs◦ Modified Habitat Attributes
Key for Use Attainability Analyses is to determine if:◦ Physical habitat features limiting to aquatic life◦ Are these habitat features feasibly restorable
Back in the 1980s developed list of important habitat attributes
No channel mod./recovered
Boulder, cobble, gravel substrates
Silt free, silt normal Good/Excellent
development Mod./high sinuosity Extensive/moderate
cover Fast current, eddies Low/normal
embeddedness Max depths > 40 cm
Recent/recovering from modifications
Silt/muck substrates Heavy/moderate silt Fair/poor development Low/no sinuosity Only 1-2 cover types No fast current High embeddedness Max depths < 40 cm Intermittent/interstitial
flow
WWH vs MWH Attributes
QHEI Attributes
12
20
30
40
50
60
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9-10
IBI
Number of ModifiedAttributes
N = 666 Sites
Warmwater Lotic Systems
HeadwaterStreams(1-20 mi2)
WadeableStreams
(20-300 mi2)
LargeRivers
(>200-300 mi2)
GreatRivers
(>6000 mi2)
Primary HWStreams(<1-3 mi2)
Class A
Class B
Class C
EWH
WWH
MWH
LRW
USH
EWH
WWH
MWH
LRW
USH
EWH
WWH
MWH
LRW
ShorelineHabitatTypes
(A,B,C)
ModifiedHabitat
2 Types:- Channel mod.- -Non acidic MD
2 Types:- Drainage maint.-AMD
2 Types:- Channel mod.- -Non acidic MD
3 Types:- Impounded- Channel mod.- -Non acidic MD
2 Types:- Drainage maint.-AMD
1 Type:- Other (case specific)
OHIO SPECIFIC TEMPLATE FOR STRATIFICATION
Class BModified
Adopted in WQS
Assessment Tool
ORSANCO
Streams are open ecosystems, scale of impact is important
Scale influences both fish and macroinvertebrate communities
Need to take scale into account when doing use designations:◦ Local reach limitations may be overcome in high
quality watershed◦ Local reach limitations may be more limiting in
poor quality watershed (physical)
Importance of Scale of Disturbance
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 5 10 15 20
Southeast Ohio Subbasins
y = 24.28 + 1.6331x R2= 0.48734
IBI
Median WS Substrate Score
Average Habitat Qualityby Watershed
Very Poor
PoorFair
Very GoodExcellentI nsuf f icient Data
Good
How Scale of Impacts Can Affect Development of Targets or Criteria
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 20 40 60 80 100
I BI - Wabash River Watershed
I BI - Kokosing River Watershed
Sit
e S
peci
fic
IBI
Site Specific QHEI
Wabash RiverWatershed
Kokosing RiverWatershed
Eff ects of Scale of Habitat Degradation on I BI
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0 20 40 60 80 100
sensitiveFrench CreekMackinaw RiverLower Big Darby CreekFish Creek
Num
ber
of
Sen
siti
ve F
ish
Spe
cies
(H
uc 1
1 W
ater
shed
)
Average QHEI inHuc11 Watershed
Ohio EPA Survey Data
Extirpation of Sensitive Fish Species
0
50
100
150
0 20 40 60 80 100
Ohio WatershedsFish CreekLower Big Darby Creek
Num
ber
of
Tot
al S
ensi
tive
Tax
a (H
uc 1
1 W
ater
shed
)
Average QHEI inHuc11 Watershed
Ohio EPA Survey Data
Loss of Sensitive Macroinvertebrate Taxa
Indiana and Minnesota: Habitat and Biological Condition in Upstream Huc-8 to 11 Watersheds
10
20
30
40
50
60
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Data Summarized at the Huc-11 ScaleTributaries excluding Mainstem Wabash
N > 5
y = 8 + 0.5x
R2= 0.66
Mea
n IB
I
Mean QHEI
0
20
40
60
80
100
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Huc-8 Watershed Averages, N > 5
Fish IBI y = -36 + 1.5x R2= 0.59
Huc-
8 Av
erag
eM
N F
ish
IBI
Huc-8 AverageMSHA (Habitat Score)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Huc-8 Watershed Averages, N > 5
Sensitive Fish Taxa y = -6.8 + 0.17x R2= 0.58
Huc-
8 Av
erag
eSe
nsiti
ve F
ish
Spec
ies R
ichn
ess
Huc-8 AverageMSHA (Habitat Score)
Precision of tools is important because it provides confidence in identifying impaired waters or high quality waters (confidence in IBI, ICI, etc)
How many classes of waters can we identify?
Precision is important in dependent and independent variables
Precision of the QHEI and IBI
Signal Noise Ratio
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Total Habitat Scores and Substrate Scores
QHEI RBP EMAP
Total Habitat Score
Substrate Metrics orVariables
Sig
nal/N
ois
e R
atio
To
tal Q
HE
I (S
am
e Y
ea
r)
To
tal Q
HE
I (A
cro
ss Y
ea
rs)
To
tal R
BP
(S
am
e Y
ea
r)
Precise
Moder.Precise
ImpreciseS
ub
stra
teM
etr
ic
Silt
-Co
ver
Sco
re
RB
P S
ed.
Dep
ositi
on
Lo
g10
(Re
l. B
ed
Sta
bili
ty)
Stream habitat types or “niches” generally increase with stream size and flow; withdrawal of flow could limit the amount of habitat
Fish are adapted through morphology and behavior to specific habitat types◦ Bottom, mid-water, top-water◦ Slow, moderate, fast, swift flow◦ Soft, fines, gravels, cobbles,
boulders◦ Structures such as undercuts,
aquatic plants, rootwads, oxbows, etc.
Stream Flow is Really a Measure of Available Habitat for Aquatic Life
Redside Dace, Top
Striped Shiner, Midwater
Variegate Darter, Bottom
How We Calculated “Habitat Niches” Using QHEI Habitat Index
Table 1. Summary of general process to classify number of niches at sites with natural channels in Ohio. Total
Niches Pool Niches Riffle Niches Current
Niches Structure
Niches Score 0-63
Increase with depth and with increase depth of
riffle and run connecting
features (Score 0-15)
Increase with riffle depth and increasing coarseness
of substrates (Score 0-15)
Increase with
diversity and velocity of
flows (0-15)
Increase with variety and amount
of cover types (Score
0-17)
Data from Statewide and Lake Erie Drainages
5
10
15
20
25
30
0.1 1 10 100 1000 104
Non-Modified Stream ChannelsTotal Niche Score
y = 11 * x (̂0.14) R2= 0.95
Mea
n N
umbe
r of
Hab
itat
"N
iches
"(b
y S
trea
m S
ize
Cat
egor
y)
Drainage Area (sq mi)
5
10
15
20
25
30
0.1 1 10 100 1000
Non-Modified Stream Channelsin Lake ErieTotal Niche Score
y = 13 * x (̂0.1) R2= 0.9
Mea
n N
umbe
r of
Hab
itat
"N
iches
"(b
y S
trea
m F
low
Cat
egor
y)
Mean Sept Flow (cf s)
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