Paper Title
Modeling and Mapping Aquatic Habitat Conditions
Submitted Manuscript

Author
Wing, M.

Abstract
Increasingly, aquatic inventory data is being collected in an attempt to capture aquatic habitat conditions for salmonid populations. We spatially referenced a database of aquatic habitat conditions for western Oregon using a GIS. Our database contains data for 3,793 stream reaches totaling 5,600 km in length and represents one of the most comprehensive, spatially accurate representations of habitat conditions for western Oregon. Using four broad physical strata representing geology, stream order, stream gradient, and channel constraint as predictors, we examined 15 habitat variables using a general linear model. The habitat variables described channel structure, pools, large woody debris, riparian vegetation, and substrate composition. Although the explanatory power of our final models varied considerably (8% - 49%), we detected statistically significant relationships that encouraged us to proceed with subsequent analyses. We present some approaches to analyzing and mapping the distributions of key habitat variables including large woody debris, pools, and channel shade. The approaches and findings from our analysis efforts may be useful to others involved in analyzing large, spatial databases that contain aquatic habitat data.

Keywords: aquatic habitat, GIS, large woody debris, pools, spatial analysis, spatial data

See also: Wing, M. and A. Skaugset. 1998. Using a geographic information system to examine stream habitat. Geo Info Systems 8(7):36-41.