The MesoHABSIM model revisited

Abstract

The MesoHABSIM simulation model was developed in 2000 as an enhancement of the habitat descriptions used in the physical habitat simulation model (PHABSIM). MesoHABSIM integrates system-scale assessment of ecological integrity in flowing waters with quantitative information on physical habitat distribution to simulate habitat changes at the watershed scale. The goal was better integration of physical habitat models into river management by 'upscaling' to address issues relevant at management levels. This paper describes the most updated version of the MesoHABSIM approach resulting from the experience gained during the application of the model in projects since 2000.

Random forests to evaluate biotic interactions in fish distribution models

“…The presented approach substantially differs from the traditional, more common micro-scale analysis, which is less flexible in accounting for multiple species and biotic interactions (Parasiewicz et al 2013). This study represents a step towards including interspecific interactions in mesohabitat simulation tools (e.g., MesoHABSIM, Parasiewicz, 2007, MesoCaSiMiR, Eisner et al, 2005 in order to clarify the role of biotic interactions more rigorously across different spatial scales 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 21 (from HMU scale, to river segments, to entire catchment). As reported in Hirzel and Guisan (2002), collecting fine-grained observational data across large spatial extents, stratified to represent variation in environmental gradients, can be useful to better investigate the effect of biotic interactions on species distribution.…”

“…HMUs often correspond in size and location to mesohabitats (Bain and Knight, 1996;Parasiewicz, 2007;Hauer et al, 2010) and can be used to capture the confounded effects of biotic and abiotic environmental variables, focusing on how aquatic species interact with the spatial arrangement of different habitat characteristics (Addicott et al, 1987;Kemp et al, 1999).…”

Wireless CDN video streaming architecture for IPTV

“…Most methods rely on visual estimates of the surface water velocity, e.g., the MesoHAB-SIM approach (Parasiewicz, 2007;Gortázar et al, 2011), which considers riffle, rapid, cascade, glide, run, fast run, pool, plunge pool, backwater, and side arm mesohabitats. Visual estimation is used in the majority of methods that have attempted to operate at the mesohabitat scale (Bisson et al, 1982, Frissell et al, 1986, Dollof et al, 1993, Hawkins et al, 1993.…”

“…The sampling of habitats at this scale allows the evaluation of some elements of cover and the consideration of their extent or their specific properties. These elements, e.g., backwaters and undercut banks, are very important for the aquatic fauna (Parasiewicz, 2007;Costa et al, in press), and they complement the evaluation of depth or velocity that can be implemented at the microhabitat or mesohabitat scale. Furthermore, if the mesohabitat surveys are applied with different representative flow rates, it is possible to simulate diverse scenarios, such as river alterations or restoration measures, e.g., with the MesoHabsim approach (Parasiewicz et al, 2009;Gortázar et al, 2011).…”

“…The mesohabitat scale is becoming more important because of its use in environmental flow studies (Parasiewicz, 2007;Parasiewicz et al, 2009;Schneider et al, 2010) and because of the importance of mesohabitat characteristics as proximate variables for many aquatic organisms. Numerous studies have successfully related mesohabitat characteristics to macroinvertebrate community composition (Brown & Brussock, 1991;Pardo & Armitage, 1997;Beisel et al, 1998) or to fish assemblages (Modde et al, 1991;Erös & Grossman, 2005;Schwartz & Herricks, 2008).…”