Expansion and Recalibration of a Benthic Invertebrate Index of Biological Integrity for the Upper Bulkley Watershed: A Tool For Assessing and Monitoring Stream Condition

The purpose of this project is to further explore the use of a B-IBI's as an effectiveness monitoring and stream condition assessment tool for long-term trend monitoring of water quality, specific to resources and land use influences within the Upper Bulkley watershed and nearby Nechako Plateau area. This included: reworking of the 1999 data to incorporate changes to metric calculations,sampling two new sites in 2001, and calculating both Family and Genus level metrics, checking for trends with human influence, and comparing the effectiveness of B-IBI's developed for the two levels of taxonomic resolution.