On the use of regional channel-based indicators for monitoring

Abstract

State-of-the-art approaches to ecosystem management recognize that different impact mechanisms produce different impacts in different watersheds, so the approaches are designed to provide different management prescriptions in different areas. Despite this level of understanding, there remains a widespread desire to identify a suite of indicators of lotic ecosystem ""health"" that are applicable regionally or nationally, and geomorphological attributes of channel form and character have frequently been selected to fill this need. Such attributes, however, often do not satisfy the minimum requirements for a useful environmental indicator. Channel form usually responds slowly to changes in driving variables, the nature of the response differs greatly over small distances, a change in channel form cannot be readily interpreted to infer cause, and trends in channel condition are not necessarily associated with trends in lotic ecosystem condition.

Citation

Reid, Leslie M.; Furniss, Michael J. 1998. On the use of regional channel-based indicators for monitoring. Unpublished report. Arcata, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 20 p.