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Abstract
The Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project provided the first comprehensive status report on the condition and history of natural resources of this mountain region (Centers for Water and Wildland Resources 1996). The report concluded that aquatic habitats were the most altered and impaired ecosystems, after exposure of Sierra watersheds to 150 years of landscape changes resulting from activities such as hydraulic mining, damming and diversions of streams, road building, livestock overgrazing, timber harvest, hard-rock mining, and introductions of exotic species. Continued assessment of watershed conditions is needed to identify problem areas, follow trends, establish standards, and document the effectiveness of restoration actions. Among the most promising biological tools for such monitoring needs is the use of aquatic insects as indicators of habitat and water quality. Watersheds provide an organizing unit for defining local and cumulative effects of landscape alterations and for planning management and conservation. This paper provides an outline of the use of aquatic invertebrate monitoring in guiding watershed management.
Parent Publication
Citation
Herbst, David. 2004. Establishing reference conditions for streams and measuring ecological responses to management actions using aquatic invertebrate biological assessments. In: Murphy, Dennis D. and Stine, Peter A., editors. Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-193. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 133-141
