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Research
Physical habitat, ecological indicators, and land-cover of streams within the Piedmont ecoregion of Georgia, USA
Relationships between physical parameters (suspended sediment concentrations (SSC), turbidity, particle size distribution, and specific conductivity) and ecological indicators are poorly understood. Aquatic biological indicators (fish and macroinvertebrate indices) have been used to identify impacted streams. This study examines the relationship between baseflow turbidity, baseflow SSC, land-use, and biotic index scores (IBI) for fish and macroinvertebrates from 42 sites within the Piedmont ecoregion of Georgia.
It also analyzes the relationship between macroinvertebrate IBIs and fish IBIs. Often these two indices are used interchangeably despite the fact that the communities do not always respond similarly to degradation or changing land-use patterns. Relationships between fish IBIs and land-use are consistent with findings from previous studies. Specific conductivity provides a strong indicator of land-use; it is negatively correlated with forest cover, ranging between 0.05 and 0.30 µs/cm and positively correlated to percent urbanization, but with greater variability. Turbidity in heavily forested areas ranges between 5 and 15 NTUs, while no relationship exists for urbanization and turbidity. Although this data suggests that land-use is not the only influence in determining IBI scores, however, it is a principle component for streams within the Georgia Piedmont.