Implications of community concordance for assessing stream integrity at three nested spatial scales in Minnesota, USA
Loading...
View/Download File
Persistent link to this item
Statistics
View StatisticsJournal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Title
Implications of community concordance for assessing stream integrity at three nested spatial scales in Minnesota, USA
Published Date
2011
Publisher
Type
Report
Abstract
Description
1. Fish and invertebrate assemblage data collected from 670 stream sites in Minnesota (U.S.A.)
were used to calculate concordance across three nested spatial scales (statewide, ecoregion and
catchment). Predictive taxa richness models, calibrated using the same data, were used to
evaluate whether concordant communities exhibited similar trends in human-induced taxa
loss across all three scales. Finally, we evaluated the strength of the relationship between
selected environmental variables and the composition of both assemblages at all three spatial
scales.
2. Significant concordance between fish and invertebrate communities occurred at the
statewide scale as well as in six of seven ecoregions and 17 of the 21 major catchments.
However, concordance was not consistently indicative of significant relationships between rates
of fish and invertebrate taxa loss at those same scales.
3. Fish and invertebrate communities were largely associated with different environmental
variables, although the composition of both communities was strongly correlated with stream
size across all three scales.
4. Predictive taxa-loss models for fish assemblages were less sensitive and precise than models
for invertebrate assemblages, likely because of the relatively low number of common fish taxa in
our data set. Both models, however, distinguished reference from non-reference sites.
5. The importance of concordance, geographic context and scale are discussed in relation to the
design and interpretation of stream integrity indicators. In particular, our findings suggest that
community concordance should not be viewed as a substitute for an evaluation of how
assemblages respond to environmental stressors.
Related to
Replaces
License
Collections
Series/Report Number
Funding information
Isbn identifier
Doi identifier
Previously Published Citation
Other identifiers
Suggested citation
Dolph, Christine, L.; Huff, David, D.; Chizinski, Christopher, J.; Vondracek, Bruce. (2011). Implications of community concordance for assessing stream integrity at three nested spatial scales in Minnesota, USA. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/183574.
Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.