Aquatic Habitat Appraisal Guide, User's Manual.
Abstract
An Aquatic Habitat Appraisal Guide (AHAG) was developed to evaluate fish habitat in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). AHAG numerically rates existing and future habitat quality according to Habitat Suitability index (HSI) values, accounts for impacts of an engineering project, and documents fishery benefits of environmental features (e.g., creation of slack-water habitat and construction of weirs) incorporated in the project design. A software program of AHAG was developed to facilitate modifications of the default matrix of HSI values based on site-specific data and calculate final HSI scores for an array of project alternatives. The default matrix consists of HSI values for eight species of fish common in the UMRS: white bass, emerald shiner, river darter, northern pike, smallmouth buffalo, walleye, largemouth bass, and bluegill. This report provides instructions on installing and using AHAG software to evaluate fish habitat according to season and life stage of the species.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA315492
Entities
People
- Dean Mathias
- Joseph W. Jordan
- K. Jack Killgore
- Thomas B. Hardy