Virginia

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Virginias Statewide Aquatic Gap Analysis Project
A Species-Habitat Affinity Database
Shelly Miller Kevin Gooss Virginia Dept. of Game
and Inland Fisheries Wildlife Diversity Division
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Some background on our efforts
Established team of regional experts representing
Virginia Tech (Fish and Wildlife and Biology
dept.) Virginia Commonwealth University VDGIF V
A Dept. of Conservation and Recreation
(DNH) Conservation Management Institute (VA Tech)
Developed preliminary work plan

• Began analysis with development of Ecological
  Drainage Units
• Represent one level of the hierarchical
  classification scheme
• Basically is a combination of physiography and
  drainage
• 31 identified in Virginia

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Gathered comments from team on EDU delineation
and posed the following question
What are the primary landscape-scale variables
influencing the distribution of species in stream
habitats?
Stream size
Connectivity
Gradient
Hydrology/permanence of flow
Geology/soils
Temperature
(Tidal)
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Data gathering for reach classification
National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) USGS, flow
validated (1100,000)
National Elevation Dataset (NED) USGS (30 m
raster)
Geology and generalized lithology USGS
(1500,000)
Smaller hydrologic units VA Dept. of
Conservation and Recreation 500 for the state
Biological data VDGIF Collections database
(point locations)
DRGs of USGS 7.5 topographic maps
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Upper Tennessee River watershed and beyond
Concurrent multi-state project just underway at
CMI/VA Tech
Progress
NHD processing Holston, Clinch/Powell,
Rappahannock, James
Habitat attribution of Holston Unique
identifier Size Connectivity Geology/litholog
y Gradient Mean elevation Cool/Coldwater
designation Waterbody identification
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NHD processing and attribution
Software ArcInfo and ArcMap (ArcGIS 8.0)
using tools developed by MoRAP, USFS and TNC staff
Time 2-3 days per watershed
Result Arc Coverage of stream segments with many
attributes
Next steps
Categorization and typing of reaches
Addition of species information
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Species-Habitat Affinity Database
ArcGIS- and MSAccess-based process and products
Timely application VDGIF Online database
re-engineering Migrating data from AREV to MS
Access platform
Products of aquatic GAP efforts will inform
re-engineering
How? Habitat preference and location data
currently housed in AREV database have been
imported into Access Identified challenges,
table relationships, etc.
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Structure of Species-Habitat Affinity database
1) Stream reaches
Linked by segment id number
2) Species collections
Linked by species id number
3) Species-habitat data from literature
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Holston data summary (VA only)
1300 collection records with over 14,000
individual species records
Representing
108 fish species
37 aquatic mollusk species
19 are federal and/or state listed
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Need to attribute species collections data with
unique segment id
Spatial join of point data to reaches
Resulting file contains attributes of both
datasets and a distance measurement
Data were reviewed using information in original
records and DRG topos.
Point greater than 10 m from stream reach
Points near confluences
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To the Access database
Import species collections data with segment id
and species id
Import stream reach data with segment id
Import environmental and taxonomic data from
existing database with species id
Create joins and relationships between these
tables.
Begin to examine patterns, identify outliers, etc.
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Aaahhh, what a tangled web we weave
Species collection data
Stream reach data
Literature data
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Results from query for reaches with Tennessee
dace (Phoxinus tennesseensis)
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Results from query for reaches with slabside
pearly mussel (Lexingtonia dolabelloides)
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Now whatshort range next steps
Continue NHD processing and attribution for
entire state
Coordinate with neighboring states to share data
and create more biologically meaningful products
Create simple data entry forms
Create watershed-scale species distribution maps
and gather expert review
Determine and apply categories of continuous
variables
Size, connectivity, gradient
Gather input from team (how many categories,
regionalization, etc.)
Examine patterns using database and GIS
Determine types, concatenation of existing
variables e.g., small, high gradient, coldwater
stream connected to medium-sized stream
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Time frame for completion of statewide project-
2005
State Wildlife Grants Program (i.e.,
CARA-lite) Requires completion of a
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan by Fall
2005
Products of gap analysis projects fit well as a
part of these comprehensive plans
These grants can be used to fund the
on-the-ground projects suggested by gap analysis.
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Thanks to Virginia Aquatic Gap Team in
particular, Paul Angermeier, Dick Neves, and Greg
Garman Scott Sowa, Gust Annis, and Michael
Morey, MoRAP Bruce Johnson, USGS Dave
Hatfield, USFS Tom Fitzhugh, TNC Blair Jones,
CMI Kevin Gooss, VDGIF, co-author