Determining the influence of habitat and chemical factors on instream biotic integrity for a Southern Ohio watershed

摘要: The relative influences of water quality and in-streamhabitat on receiving biology were investigatedin the Little Miami River, Ohio, a national statescenic river located in southwest corner thestate. Monitored sample data for chemistry,habitat, invertebrates fish obtained fromfederal state sources integrated via ageographical information system (GIS), using uniquestream segmenting system. Locations flowinformation municipal wastewater treatment plants(WWTPs) also into Therelative importance chemistry habitat onbiological was determined usingmultivariate forward stepwise regression. Theprincipal environmental factors that influencedbiological responses in-stream andpercent cumulative WWTP effluent at mean flow. Cumulative low flow dilution,nutrients total toxic units from metals andammonia did not correlate with biological responses(e.g. number mayfly species, invertebrate communityindex (ICI), species index ofbiotic integrity (IBI)). We found GIS-based datamethods to be highly useful understanding theprincipal processes guide health.