The development of aquatic ecoregions in Oklahoma /

Abstract

This study was to determine if a technique could be developed for assigning aquatic ecoregions to streams in Oklahoma. It was determined that watershed attributes, generally available on a statewide basis, can be used to develop a conceptual framework on which to manage and protect the waters of the state.

Eight broad scale geographic properties were used to define differences in 381 watersheds which could be spatially represented as regions. These properties were evaluated by three cluster analysis techniques and each watershed provisionally assigned to a region based on the results. The provisional assignments were evaluated by discriminant analysis. Five ecoregions were designated based on these techniques. Ninety-five watersheds were withheld from final assignment to an ecoregion.

The project provided insight into the variation of the waters of Oklahoma and produced an objective, reasonable and economical grouping to be used in the protection and management of these waters for future generations.

Regional differences were then compared through fish collections from a broadly scattered pattern. The resulting analysis tends to support the regions developed by objective multivariate techniques. Statistical validity was evaluated but hampered by the small sample size of the evaluation data set.