Track: Ecology, Conservation, and Archaeology
Using GIS To Find the Relationship Between Fish Diversity and Stream Bank Cover in Illinois
Tom N. KompareA study is underway in Illinois to quantify the relationship between fish diversity and stream bank cover. This study relies heavily on the spatial analysis of these data. In a limited amount of time, GIS allows us to eventually complete this study for all of Illinois. The three main data sets for this analysis are land cover, fish diversity, and streams, which are already available in GIS format. Some issues that were addressed during the preliminary stages of this study were positional and composition accuracy of these data, determining meaningful buffer distances, and quantifying fish diversity. Within a pilot study area, we entered fish diversity data from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Division of Fisheries. With these data, we scaled and graded stream segments A through E. We then took these graded segments and grouped them by grade. We buffered these groups by different distances, used these buffer polygons to sample the surrounding land cover, and determined the percentage of each land cover class within each set of buffer polygons. We used these percentages of land cover to look for trends in land cover type as stream grade improved or worsened. Preliminary results show that there is a quantifiable relationship in bankside land cover versus fish diversity. With these results in hand, we are now confident that a State-wide analysis will show meaningful results.
Tom N. Kompare
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 E. Peabody
Champaign, IL 61820
USA
Telephone: 217-244-2157
Fax: 217-333-4949
E-mail: kompare@uiuc.edu