Diatom Assemblage Structure as an Indicator of Stream habitat Condition in the Minnesota River Watershed

Richards and Kutka's portion of MRAP was the study of diatoms. Their goal was to use them as an indicator of physical habitat quality. To accomplish this they selected 16 streams in southwestern Minnesota. Indirect gradient analyses of whole community variation demonstrated generally weak relationships with physical habitat. Abundance of several growth form guilds and other community descriptors did, however, have strong correlation's with some habitat parameters, particularly substrate characteristics and sediment recruitment factors. Species richness and diversity were relatively low when compared to other agricultural areas. Five of the 16 stream had low biological integrity ratings in two of the three impairment categories.