The Great Lakes Aquatic Gap Analysis Project Overview Jana Stewart U.S. Geological Survey
Jan 15, 2016
The Great Lakes Aquatic Gap Analysis Project
Overview
Jana Stewart
U.S. Geological Survey
Great Lakes Aquatic Gap ProjectFunding:
USGS Biological Resources Division
National GAP Analysis Program
Co-Principal Investigators:
Donna Myers, USGS Great Lakes Coordinator
Dora Reader, USGS BRD Great Lakes Science Center
Steve Aichele, USGS WRD Michigan District
James McKenna, USGS Tunnison Laboratory
Jana Stewart, USGS WRD Wisconsin District
What is “GAP”?Program
• Terrestrial (1988) - Most states in progress
• Aquatic (1997) – Statewide projects MO and OH
1) to map the species distributions and diversity of fish and other aquatic species and their habitats
2) Identify the gaps in conservation of these species and associated habitats
Aquatic Gap Goals
Great Lakes Aquatic Gap Studies
Riverine systems• Eight states - Great Lakes watershed• Focus on fish (other aquatic biota in future)• Common methods and approach (MO, OH, MIFR, TNC)• Focus of WI project and talks today
Coastal Pilot• Focus on method development for habitat classification• Nearshore coastal systems• Pilot areas – Lake Ontario and Erie
• Biological coding (IT IS)
• Organization of databases for all states and areas in the region into a single central Oracle database system.
Regional Standardization across StatesRegional Standardization across States
• Valley Segment Type (VST) classification
• National Hydrography data (NHD) – 1:100K
Objectives: Aquatic Gap for Riverine SystemsObjectives: Aquatic Gap for Riverine Systems1) Delineate and map ecologically similar drainage areas.
2) Classify aquatic habitats in streams using regionally consistent methods (VST).
3) Develop aquatic biological databases at the State and regional scale.
4) Map known and predicted occurrence and distribution of fish and other aquatic species for streams.
5) Complete a gap analysis of fish and selected aquatic biota.
6) Serve these data on the Internet and CD ROM.
7) Analyze and interpret results at statewide, lakewide, and basinwide scales.
How does GAP work?• Institutional cooperation and partnerships
• State level projects
• Identify
- stakeholders and level of participation
- related projects to coordinate with
• Develop products with value at the local, State, and Regional level
Stream Segment Classification:Valley Segment Types
Valley segments stratify a continuous stream network into distinct hydrogeomorphic patches
Temperature Stream Size Flow Gradient Geology Valley Segment Types
Individual Variables Unique Valley Segment Types
Aquatic Biological Data needed for Target Biota
Location:
- stream name, latitude, longitude, hydrologic unit, river mile
• Sample Information:
- date
• Species Information:
- scientific name, common name, species ID code, count
Link Aquatic Biological and GIS Databases
How might the results be used?
1) mapping species distributions
2) identifying data gaps
3) developing biomonitoring networks
4) modeling to predict species distributions
5) developing management strategies
6) developing policy,etc.
Hu11gap.shp01 - 1011 - 67
Prioritize WatershedsFor Future Fish Survey Efforts
Number of samples
0
1 - 1011 - 67
GAP Analysis - Public Lands
Great Lakes Aquatic Gap Timeline
Great Lakes Aquatic Gap Timeline
‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘06 ‘08
OH
MI
WI
NY
MN
IL
IN
PA
PILOT
Coastal
PLANNING ANALYSIS PUBLICATION
Coastal
‘05 ‘07Year starting