Habitat quality indices used in AppEAR were developed specifically for each environment.
With the help of all citizen scientists that participate in the project, they are calibrated and improved!
The indices
Para cada ambiente, AppEAR hace preguntas distintas en la pantalla de “Análisis”. Hay algunas preguntas que son comunes a todos los ambientes, y otras específicas para cada ambiente.
Cada pregunta tiene algunas respuestas probables, que son elegidas por el científico ciudadano en base a lo que encuentra en el lugar adonde está.
Cada respuesta tiene un valor, que varía entre 0 (peor calidad) y 10 (mejor calidad). El valor final del índice que nos dice la calidad ambiental del sitio es un promedio de esos valores.
The questions
The following questions are common to all environments
| QUESTION | POSSIBLE ANSWERS |
| 1. What is the land use near the water body mostly? | An industrial or mining area |
| A very dense urban area | |
| A peri-urban, or low density, urban area | |
| An agricultural area | |
| A natural reserve, or a very preserved area | |
| I don’t know | |
| 2. Is there cattle near the waterbody? | Yes, there’s a feedlot |
| Yes, a lot but dispersed | |
| Yes, but little | |
| No, no cattle | |
| I don’t know | |
| 3. What is the riverside vegetation like? | There are only native plants |
| There are introduced trees, cane or black acacia | |
| Without trees or with little agriculture | |
| I don’t know | |
| 4. Are there aquatic plants? | Yes, there are submerged in the water and also in the margins |
| Yes, there are submerged in the water, but there are no in the margins | |
| No, of any kind | |
| I don’t know | |
| 5. Is the water transparent? | It is transparent |
| It’s brown | |
| It’s dark | |
| I don’t know | |
| 6. Does the water smell bad? | It smells good |
| Smells bad | |
| I don’t know | |
| 7. Is there garbage on the shore? | No trash |
| Present but not abundant | |
| Abundant | |
| I don’t know |
| QUESTION | ANSWERS |
| 1. How is the current? | Fast |
| Slow | |
| I don’t know | |
| 2. Is the river overflowed? Or in its channel? | Overflowed |
| In its channel | |
| I don’t know | |
| 3. Is it channeled or tubed? | Is channeled or tubed |
| It is not channeled or tubed | |
| I don’t know | |
| 4. The bottom of the stream has: | Clay / Mud |
| Coarse sand | |
| Stones or gravel | |
| Pebbles | |
| It is artificial (cement) | |
| I don’t know | |
| 5. How is the slope of the margins? | Very pronounced! (> 45º) |
| Not very pronounced (<45º) | |
| I don’t know |
| QUESTION | ANSWERS |
| 1. How is the current? | Fast |
| Slow | |
| I don’t know | |
| 2. Is the river overflowed? Or in its channel? | Overflowed |
| In its channel | |
| I don’t know | |
| 3. Is it channelized or tubed? | Is channeled or tubed |
| It is not channeled or tubed | |
| I don’t know | |
| 4. The bottom of the stream has: | Clay / Mud |
| Coarse sand | |
| Stones or gravel | |
| Pebbles | |
| It is artificial (cement) | |
| I don’t know | |
| 5. How is the slope of the margins? | Very pronounced! (& gt; 45º) |
| Not very pronounced (<45º) | |
| I don’t know | |
| 6. Is the creek shaded? | Yes, fully covered |
| Yes, a little | |
| Not shaded | |
| I don’t know |
| QUESTION | ANSWERS |
| 1. Are there rushes or reeds on the coast?
|
Yes, there are reeds and rushes |
| Some isolated rushes | |
| No, there are no rushes | |
| I don’t know | |
| 2. Are there walls on the coast? | Yes, there is a wall along the coast |
| No, there is no wall | |
| I don’t know | |
| 3. Are there piers or ports nearby? | Yes, there are piers or ports |
| No, there is nothing | |
| I don’t know | |
| 4. Are there temporary buildings? | Yes, there are some tents or campsites |
| No, there is nothing | |
| I don’t know |
| QUESTION | ANSWERS |
| 1. Are there rushes or reeds on the coast? | Yes, there are rushes or reeds |
| Some isolated rushes | |
| No, there are no rushes or reeds | |
| I don’t know | |
| 2. Are there grasslands on the coast?
|
Yes there are grasslands |
| Some, isolated | |
| No, there are no grasslands | |
| I don’t know | |
| 3. Are there trees on the coast? | Yes, abundant |
| No, there are no trees | |
| I don’t know | |
| 4. Are there walls on the coast? | Yes, there is a wall along the coast |
| No, there is no wall | |
| I don’t know | |
| 5. Are there piers or jets nearby? | Yes, there are springs |
| No, there is nothing | |
| I don’t know | |
| 6. Are there temporary buildings? | Yes, there are some boxes or campsites |
| No, there is nothing | |
| I don’t know | |
| 7. Is there debris on the coast? | Yes, there is debris all along the coast |
| No, there is no debris | |
| I don’t know |
The calculation
Each possible answer to each question has an ideal score in a pristine environment (10 points) or the worst score in a degraded environment (0 points).
The other possible answers have intermediate values (5 points).
The index of each environment adds these values and divides them by the total number of questions. That is, it is an average of the values.
References
Some habitat indices have alreadly been published as scientific articles: