A test of the association between Lake Habitat Quality Assessment and macroinvertebrate community structure

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 520-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine McGoff ◽  
Kenneth Irvine
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Community ◽  
Habitat Quality Assessment

scholarly journals Impact Assessment of Habitat and Hydromorphological Alterations in Two Heavily Modified Lakes

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 622
Author(s):  
Dionissis Latinopoulos ◽  
Chrysoula Ntislidou ◽  
Ifigenia Kagalou
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Habitat Modification ◽  
Lake Morphology ◽  
Habitat Quality Assessment

A description of hydromorphological pressures is required by the Water Framework Directive, however, there is not a commonly accepted assessment method. This study aims to explore a description tool application, not used before in Greece, for the quantification of the human impact extent on natural environment. Thus, in lakes Kastoria and Pamvotis, the Lake Habitat Survey was applied in the field and remotely to map the pressures, to examine confidence, suitability and ease of applicability through plot quantitative description, to calculate the “Lake Habitat Quality Assessment”, “Lake Habitat Modification Score” and “Alteration of Lake Morphology Score” indices.

scholarly journals Habitat quality assessment of Atlantic wet heathlands in Serra do Xistral, NW Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 533 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.V. Muñoz-Barcia ◽  
L. Lagos ◽  
C.A. Blanco-Arias ◽  
R. Díaz-Varela ◽  
J. Fagúndez
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Shrub Cover ◽  
Nw Spain ◽  
Pine Trees ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Habitat Quality Assessment

The assessment of habitat quality, especially in semi-natural managed systems, provides a powerful tool for monitoring short and long-term conservation actions. The Erica mackayana Atlantic wet heathlands of the Serra do Xistral protected area in Galicia, NW Spain, represent a dynamic system with high conservation value associated to traditional management through grazing of free-ranging cattle and wild ponies. Here, we aimed to develop a spatially-explicit, quantitative method for Habitat Quality Assessment, defining an optimum state and the alternative states that may arise from habitat degradation. Vegetation structure, grass-shrub cover ratio, gorse cover, presence of bracken, exotic species such as pine trees and saplings, erosive events and altered hydrological dynamics were identified as the main indicators of habitat degradation. A heterogeneous vegetation structure with a dominant shrub cover of c.0.5 m height and constant gaps among shrubs, with a limited cover of gorse and absence of pine trees, bramble and bracken, and absence of erosive events was recognized as the optimum state. We applied the Habitat Quality Assessment (HQA) method to a pilot area within the Xistral protected site. Wet heathland was the dominant habitat, covering 37.1% of the area. 7.0% of the assessed heathlands were recognized as in the optimum state for habitat quality. Recommendations are made for habitat management to revert low scores, mainly by the adjustment of livestock numbers and the removal of exotic pine trees.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document