Application of Gap Analysis to Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation:
Aquatic GAP Pilot Project of the New York Cooperative Research Unit

Methods for the application of Gap Analysis to aquatic systems are being developed and demonstrated in the Allegheny River watershed of western New York. This aquatic GAP pilot started last June and is now focused on two primary tasks: constructing a GIS to predict relative levels of biodiversity, and enhancing the GIS with available biological, physical, and chemical data. In addition, we have constructed the basic GIS structure to interface aquatic Gap Analysis with the terrestrial GAP. Tasks for the immediate future include testing our aquatic biodiversity predictions with available survey data, and the development of a World Wide Web (WWW) site reporting our protocols with examples of finished work. This site will be linked to the National GAP home page.

Our most significant accomplishment to date has been the development of an aquatic habitat classification system for flowing waters that is linked to faunal lists. The system is compatible with the National GAP guidelines (e.g., 100,000 scale) and practical to implement with readily available data. We began with stream and river habitats because flowing waters support a large majority of the aquatic biodiversity across the United States. The classification system has twelve stream and river habitat classes, defined by three attribute sets: stream size (headwaters, large streams/small rivers, large rivers), physical structure (dominated by natural geomorphological processes, human dominated), and water quality (acceptable for life support, degraded). Stream size will be defined by drainage area using the GIS; physical structure is being determined from USGS maps and land uses in the stream corridor; and water quality will be rated using the STORET water quality database of the USEPA and states. Habitat classes can be mapped using the EPA River Reach File as the base GIS layer. As we finish the GIS development, examples of the habitat classification system will be illustrated on our WWW site showing predicted levels of biodiversity.

This Aquatic GAP pilot project is being developed in close consultation with New York state and federal agencies involved with fish and wildlife, water quality regulation and monitoring, land management, and biological surveys. Prior to the start of the Aquatic GAP Project, a small-scale, intensive watershed GIS project was well under way with support from The Nature Conservancy. This joint venture between the NY Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and The Nature Conservancy is now embedded in the Aquatic GAP work and provides a means to thoroughly test predictions and methods in a small watershed with extensive, high-resolution biosurvey and land use data.

For further information, see the Aquatic Gap Analysis portion of the National GAP WWW in 1996 or contact the author. site early

Mark B. Bain
New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit