ET-3 (2/7/05 version)
Integrating Chemical and Stream Integrity to Achieve Environmental Results

Rankin, Edward T. and Brian J. Armitage. 2005. Trends in Biological Integrity, Biodiversity and Aquatic Habitat in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains Ecoregion: Implications for the Protection and Restoration of Streams in the St. Josephs River Watershed. Ohio Biological Survey Applied Publication Series Number 1.

This study was conducted with support by The Nature Conservancy to examine stressor indicators and exposure indicators that are limiting to biological integrity in streams in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains (ECBP) and Huron Erie Lake Plain (HELP) ecoregions.

Conclusions were:

• that stream habitat was the major controlling factor in streams of the ECBP and HELP ecoregions;
• that conservation tillage could have a substantial influence on biological conditions in watersheds;
• but that biological communities were not likely to improve across major narrative categories (e.g. fair to excellent) without some consideration of habitat (stream integrity) limitations.

Trends in Biological Integrity Slide Show: PDF format (5171kb) or zipped PowerPoint format (6396 kb).

Auglaize River, Connections between Land Management and Biological Conditions.

Association Between Nutrients, Habitat, and the Aquatic Biota in Ohio Rivers and Streams

Nutrient chemistry, biological community performance, and habitat data from least impacted regional reference sites and a broader data set, including sites impacted by various stressors, were analyzed to determine localized low-flow effects of nutrients and sediment on the aquatic assemblages of Ohio streams and rivers. Data were segregated by ecoregion and further stratified by four ranges of stream and river size.