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Applying The Reference Condition Approach To Bioassessment Of Cape Breton Island Streams, Kari A. Moreland
Applying The Reference Condition Approach To Bioassessment Of Cape Breton Island Streams, Kari A. Moreland
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The reference condition approach (RCA) to bioassessment assesses the effect of human activity on ecosystems relative to sites that are relatively unexposed to such activity. This study uses the RCA to characterize the nature of relatively pristine streams on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia as a comparison to assess sites that have various degrees and types of exposure to human activities, including sites that have been remediated from acid mine drainage related to coal mining.
RCA models consisted of general linear models with environmental characteristics of reference sites as the predictor variables and biotic indices as the response variables. Findings …