Development of index of biotic integrity expectations for the ecoregions of Indiana. I. Central corn belt plain

The Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987 mandate the development of biological criteria for evaluating the nation's surface waters. The requirements of Section 304(a) was implemented in Indiana to determine water resource degradation. A total of 197 headwater and wading stream sites were sampled in the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion in order to develop and calibrate an Index of Biotic Integrity for use in Indiana. Based on inherent variance within the ecoregion, sub-basins were established based on the concept of natural areas as recognized by Homoya et al. (1985). Site specific data; locality information; and species specific scoring criteria for tolerance classification, trophic guilds, and reproductive guilds are included in the appendix