Integrating stream bioassessment and landscape ecology as a tool for land use planning

摘要: Summary 1. Bioassessment has evolved significantly from a method of deciding whether an ecosystem exposed to stressors should ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ (or how badly it fails). Society wants some notion what caused any observed degradation ecosystems, and management strategies might improve degraded ecosystems. Managers also want predict negative positive effects different land use will have on the component ecosystems landscape, including lakes streams. 2. Here we illustrate approach providing these tools managers with data bioassessment study streams in Fraser River Basin British Columbia, Canada. 3. Landscape scale descriptors both natural (e.g. catchment size, surficial geology) stressor hard rock mines, forest harvest) environment each site were used define environments 242 stream sites. 4. We classified 206 reference (relatively unexposed human activity) sites using their benthic macroinvertebrate community composition, then discriminated among faunally defined groups landscape sites. 5. This discriminant function model allowed us which group test would be if condition, measure relationship between amount activity biota groups. 6. These relationships turned into projections happen ecosystem's is either improved degraded. projection models form basis evidence-based planning that takes account health freshwater