Welcome to "Fish On"-line.

Shortwing shonefly
USGS

The USGS Idaho Water Science Center and the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Great Basin Information Project have partnered together to develop a management and delivery system for aquatic biological monitoring data. A large amount of aquatic biological data has been collected by the USGS water quality projects since early 1990s. It is the mission of the NBII to locate biological data sources that are important to management and deliver the data to scientists, managers, and stakeholders. In 2006 the fish community data was loaded into a relational database. This database provides the base for this web site.

This site currently allows users to search for aquatic data in the State of Idaho by selecting a sampling site or a stream. These data can be filtered further by fish species and date of sample. We've linked this site to the FISHBASE web site so detailed natural history information is available for each fish family and species.

All fish samples have been vouchered at Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History at Albertson's College of Idaho. Fish specimens for each site sampled are preserved in jars at the museum for taxonomic verification (necessary when collecting community composition data).

Search the site in one of two ways:

Using Pull-Down menus

Using a map

This option allows you to investigate fish data by specify a stream name using pull-down menus to view data from all sampling sites on that stream.

You can then further refine your search by individual sample and/or fish species.

Search using menus.

This option allows you to investigate data from individual sampling locations by clicking on a map to view data from that sampling site.

You can then further refine your search by selecting an individual sample and/or fish species.

Search using a map.

Importance of aquatic biological community data

Aquatic biological community data integrates both water quality and habitat conditions. Biological communities (fish, macroinvertebrates, and algae) help managers determine if a stream is supportive of certain species such as cold water biota or pollution tolerant species. Community data has been used recently to determine beneficial use of streams and rivers required for the total maximum daily load (TMDL) process. Long term trend analysis of aquatic communities also helps managers evaluate best management practice (BMP) effectiveness. Aquatic communities are highly correlated with water quality and habitat conditions and are a good indicator of the decline or improvement in the quality of a water body.

This application is based upon work previously supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program.

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://greatbasin.wr.usgs.gov/fish/index.aspx
Page Contact Information: webmaster
Page Last Modified: 12/22/2011