Abstract

How a landscape is used in a watershed will ultimately affect aquatic ecology and water quality. Aquatic macroinvertebrates are sensitive to the effects various land use types have on the water quality. Three common types of land use classification are forested, agricultural and developed. Forested land classifications have been shown to improve water quality which results in greater aquatic biodiversity. Agricultural and developed, or urban, land use are generally associated with various negative effects on streams which result in poorer water quality, reducing the biodiversity in an aquatic habitat. This study analyzes land use classifications in three subwatersheds of the Lake James watershed. It also analyzes how the Index of Biotic Integrity is affected in each of forested, agricultural and developed subwatersheds. The results of this study indicate that the IBI in the three selected subwatersheds ranges from 2.31 to 3.92 with a general trend of the best IBI score in the forested watershed. Additionally, there is a correlation between increased urbanization and higher conductivity levels in the Lake James watershed. This data illustrates that these aquatic ecosystems are negatively affected by developed and agricultural landscapes, and that the developed subwatershed is associated with higher conductivity in the aquatic ecosystem.

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