Assigning aquatic life use designations Determining causes and sources of

impairment Restorability (antidegradation, priority

setting, TMDLs) 401 – What is the appropriate aquatic life

use? 401 – Will activity cause aquatic life use

impairment?

Using the QHEI

List of factors associated with higher IBIs◦ Warmwater Habitat Attributes

List of factors associated with lower IBIs◦ Modified Habitat Attributes

Key for Use Attainability Analyses is to determine if:◦ Physical habitat features limiting to aquatic life◦ Are these habitat features feasibly restorable

Back in the 1980s developed list of important habitat attributes

No channel mod./recovered

Boulder, cobble, gravel substrates

Silt free, silt normal Good/Excellent

development Mod./high sinuosity Extensive/moderate

cover Fast current, eddies Low/normal

embeddedness Max depths > 40 cm

Recent/recovering from modifications

Silt/muck substrates Heavy/moderate silt Fair/poor development Low/no sinuosity Only 1-2 cover types No fast current High embeddedness Max depths < 40 cm Intermittent/interstitial

flow

WWH vs MWH Attributes

QHEI Attributes

12

20

30

40

50

60

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9-10

IBI

Number of ModifiedAttributes

N = 666 Sites

Warmwater Lotic Systems

HeadwaterStreams(1-20 mi2)

WadeableStreams

(20-300 mi2)

LargeRivers

(>200-300 mi2)

GreatRivers

(>6000 mi2)

Primary HWStreams(<1-3 mi2)

Class A

Class B

Class C

EWH

WWH

MWH

LRW

USH

EWH

WWH

MWH

LRW

USH

EWH

WWH

MWH

LRW

ShorelineHabitatTypes

(A,B,C)

ModifiedHabitat

2 Types:- Channel mod.- -Non acidic MD

2 Types:- Drainage maint.-AMD

2 Types:- Channel mod.- -Non acidic MD

3 Types:- Impounded- Channel mod.- -Non acidic MD

2 Types:- Drainage maint.-AMD

1 Type:- Other (case specific)

OHIO SPECIFIC TEMPLATE FOR STRATIFICATION

Class BModified

Adopted in WQS

Assessment Tool

ORSANCO

Streams are open ecosystems, scale of impact is important

Scale influences both fish and macroinvertebrate communities

Need to take scale into account when doing use designations:◦ Local reach limitations may be overcome in high

quality watershed◦ Local reach limitations may be more limiting in

poor quality watershed (physical)

Importance of Scale of Disturbance

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 5 10 15 20

Southeast Ohio Subbasins

y = 24.28 + 1.6331x R2= 0.48734

IBI

Median WS Substrate Score

Average Habitat Qualityby Watershed

Very Poor

PoorFair

Very GoodExcellentI nsuf f icient Data

Good

How Scale of Impacts Can Affect Development of Targets or Criteria

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 20 40 60 80 100

I BI - Wabash River Watershed

I BI - Kokosing River Watershed

Sit

e S

peci

fic

IBI

Site Specific QHEI

Wabash RiverWatershed

Kokosing RiverWatershed

Eff ects of Scale of Habitat Degradation on I BI

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0 20 40 60 80 100

sensitiveFrench CreekMackinaw RiverLower Big Darby CreekFish Creek

Num

ber

of

Sen

siti

ve F

ish

Spe

cies

(H

uc 1

1 W

ater

shed

)

Average QHEI inHuc11 Watershed

Ohio EPA Survey Data

Extirpation of Sensitive Fish Species

0

50

100

150

0 20 40 60 80 100

Ohio WatershedsFish CreekLower Big Darby Creek

Num

ber

of

Tot

al S

ensi

tive

Tax

a (H

uc 1

1 W

ater

shed

)

Average QHEI inHuc11 Watershed

Ohio EPA Survey Data

Loss of Sensitive Macroinvertebrate Taxa

Indiana and Minnesota: Habitat and Biological Condition in Upstream Huc-8 to 11 Watersheds

10

20

30

40

50

60

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Data Summarized at the Huc-11 ScaleTributaries excluding Mainstem Wabash

N > 5

y = 8 + 0.5x

R2= 0.66

Mea

n IB

I

Mean QHEI

0

20

40

60

80

100

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Huc-8 Watershed Averages, N > 5

Fish IBI y = -36 + 1.5x R2= 0.59

Huc-

8 Av

erag

eM

N F

ish

IBI

Huc-8 AverageMSHA (Habitat Score)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Huc-8 Watershed Averages, N > 5

Sensitive Fish Taxa y = -6.8 + 0.17x R2= 0.58

Huc-

8 Av

erag

eSe

nsiti

ve F

ish

Spec

ies R

ichn

ess

Huc-8 AverageMSHA (Habitat Score)

Precision of tools is important because it provides confidence in identifying impaired waters or high quality waters (confidence in IBI, ICI, etc)

How many classes of waters can we identify?

Precision is important in dependent and independent variables

Precision of the QHEI and IBI

Signal Noise Ratio

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Total Habitat Scores and Substrate Scores

QHEI RBP EMAP

Total Habitat Score

Substrate Metrics orVariables

Sig

nal/N

ois

e R

atio

To

tal Q

HE

I (S

am

e Y

ea

r)

To

tal Q

HE

I (A

cro

ss Y

ea

rs)

To

tal R

BP

(S

am

e Y

ea

r)

Precise

Moder.Precise

ImpreciseS

ub

stra

teM

etr

ic

Silt

-Co

ver

Sco

re

RB

P S

ed.

Dep

ositi

on

Lo

g10

(Re

l. B

ed

Sta

bili

ty)

Stream habitat types or “niches” generally increase with stream size and flow; withdrawal of flow could limit the amount of habitat

Fish are adapted through morphology and behavior to specific habitat types◦ Bottom, mid-water, top-water◦ Slow, moderate, fast, swift flow◦ Soft, fines, gravels, cobbles,

boulders◦ Structures such as undercuts,

aquatic plants, rootwads, oxbows, etc.

Stream Flow is Really a Measure of Available Habitat for Aquatic Life

Redside Dace, Top

Striped Shiner, Midwater

Variegate Darter, Bottom

How We Calculated “Habitat Niches” Using QHEI Habitat Index

Table 1. Summary of general process to classify number of niches at sites with natural channels in Ohio. Total

Niches Pool Niches Riffle Niches Current

Niches Structure

Niches Score 0-63

Increase with depth and with increase depth of

riffle and run connecting

features (Score 0-15)

Increase with riffle depth and increasing coarseness

of substrates (Score 0-15)

Increase with

diversity and velocity of

flows (0-15)

Increase with variety and amount

of cover types (Score

0-17)

Data from Statewide and Lake Erie Drainages

5

10

15

20

25

30

0.1 1 10 100 1000 104

Non-Modified Stream ChannelsTotal Niche Score

y = 11 * x (̂0.14) R2= 0.95

Mea

n N

umbe

r of

Hab

itat

"N

iches

"(b

y S

trea

m S

ize

Cat

egor

y)

Drainage Area (sq mi)

5

10

15

20

25

30

0.1 1 10 100 1000

Non-Modified Stream Channelsin Lake ErieTotal Niche Score

y = 13 * x (̂0.1) R2= 0.9

Mea

n N

umbe

r of

Hab

itat

"N

iches

"(b

y S

trea

m F

low

Cat

egor

y)

Mean Sept Flow (cf s)