Ecoregions and Subregions of Iowa: A Framework for Water Quality Assessment and Management

Authors

Glenn E. Griffith, Environmental Research Laboratoey
James M. Omernik, Environmental Research Laboratory
Thomas F. Wilton, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Suzanne M. Pierson, ManTech Environmental Technology, Inc.

Document Type

Research

Keywords

Iowa, ecoregions, reference sites, water quality, biological criteria

Abstract

Ecoregion frameworks are valuable tools for inventorying and assessing environmental resources, for setting resource management goals, and for developing biological criteria and water quality standards. In a collaborative project between the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we have refined boundaries of the EPA's five ecological regions of Iowa and defined six subregions of the Western Corn Belt Plains ecoregion within the state. Lists of candidate stream reference sites have been developed to date for the seven largest regions, and the sites were visited and evaluated by Iowa DNR and U.S. EPA personnel to determine their suitability for sampling aquatic biota. The Iowa DNR plans to use the ecoregions and reference sites to better understand regional variations in stream quality, to help define best-attainable conditions, to develop biological criteria, and as a framework to report on water quality.

Publication Date

March 1994

Journal Title

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

101

Issue

1

First Page

5

Last Page

13

Copyright

© Copyright 1994 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

EN

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Griffith, Glenn E.; Omernik, James M.; Wilton, Thomas F.; and Pierson, Suzanne M. (1994) "Ecoregions and Subregions of Iowa: A Framework for Water Quality Assessment and Management," Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS, 101(1), 5-13.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol101/iss1/4