Tracking status and trends in seven key indicators of stream health in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Abstract

Status describes the condition of a particular indicator at one moment in time. Trend describes change in an indicator over time. The status of an indicator often depends on its quantity or size defined as increase minus decrease over a previous time interval. Trend is a statistically meaningful departure from a previous condition measured over an interval of time between two or more previously documented conditions. Trend analyses describing changes in Chesapeake Bay watershed stream health span time intervals of five or more years.