Proceedings - Teaching and Learning Centre - Simon Fraser ...

Fraser River Action Plan 3rd Research Workshop
Deliverables
a) Willow R.
2g
b) Salmon R.
Figure 4: Reference and test sites on ordination plots with 70% ellipses.
The primary deliverable for this project is the development of a software package, for use by managers, which
will provide two options as follows:
The software package will allow a site assessment. In this mode, the operator will have collected
information on site attributes (e.g., location, depth, substrate, alkalinity, etc.) together with data on the
biological community (either macroinvertebrate or algal or both). These data will be entered into the
software package, the program will predict the biological community which should be present and
provide output on the degree of difference from the ‘real’ community, the degree of impairment and
some indication of causation. The primary focus of this study is the establishment of the reference
condition for the basin which allows biological objectives to be developed. Although the data are being
collected from the Fraser River basin, the baseline dataset will probably be applicable to other areas of
the province with similar geographic and ecological attributes. There will be a need for a testing period
where the model is used by practitioners in order for it to gain acceptance.
A second operational mode could allow some “what if’ scenarios. This would allow entry of
potentially changed states (i.e., logging, mining, remediation, etc.), and predictions of what changes to
the biological community could occur under the various scenarios. It should be noted, however, that
developing this option may require additional data collection at sites along impairment gradients
(logging, mining, agriculture).
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