The relationships between local and catchment-wide land use patterns and the spatial distribution of stream habitat variables within the Grande Cascapedia drainage basin were investigated using a geographic information system (GIS). Stream habitat variables including substrate composition and channel morphology were sampled at 48 study sites, ranging from highly disturbed to relatively pristine forest conditions in 2nd to 5th order tributaries. Land use and geology-structure variables were extracted for each catchment at four spatial scales using a GIS. The transition between pool-riffle and boulder-rapid morphologies occurred between channel gradients of 1.5% and 1.7%. The surface grainsize distribution is affected by the hydraulic power of the reach, while the subsurface grainsize distribution is associated with the degree of valley incision. The amount of logging within a 1 km radius of a sample site increases the occurrence of fine sediment within the substrate. There was, however, a surprising lack of relationship between the majority of road density metrics and the level of fines within the substrate.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.79202 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Wilson, Leah, 1977- |
| Contributors | Lapointe, Michel (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Geography.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001985528, proquestno: AAIMQ88327, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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