Title: Testing and Further Development of RIVPACS: Stage 4
Author: D D Hornby
Author: R T Clarke
Author: J F Wright
Author: F H Dawson
Author: Environment Agency
Document Type: Monograph
Annotation: Environment Agency Project ID:EAPRJOUT_1605, Representation ID: 10, Object ID: 1340
Abstract:
RIVPACS requires information on a small suite of environmental variables in order to make predictions of the macroinvertebrate fauna to be expected at a given site with stated environmental features in the absence of environmental stress. The Option 1 suite of variables has remained the same in RIVPACS II, (available in 1990) and in RIVPACS III/RIVPACS III+ (used in the 1995/2000 General Quality Assessments). Some of the current variables including slope of site, altitude of site and distance of site from source, together with mean annual discharge category are acquired manually from maps. This is a time-consuming process which can be prone to error. In this package, we have examined the feasibility of developing procedures for acquiring accurate values of these predictor variables from a Geographic Information System (GIS). We have also investigated whether additional site variables acquired from the GIS are capable of increasing the accuracy of RIVPACS predictions. In the long-term, it would appear that the use of GIS-derived values of some RIVPACS predictor variables will bring benefits in terms of speed of acquisition, greater accuracy and a modest increase in predictive capability. However, the consequences of implementing such a change on the RIVPACS software itself and on all Ecological Quality Index (EQI) and other results generated by RIVPACS are such that it should be carried out as a single operation and only when there is clear evidence that progress in generating reliable outputs from the GIS is complete.
Publisher: Environment Agency
Subject Keywords: Rivers; Canals; Invertebrates; Water quality; Geographical information systems; Freshwater ecology
Extent: 62
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:4392
Total file downloads: 295
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