What is a biotic community, and how does that impact a watershed?
Preston Brook Watershed Special Characteristics Exploration: When looking at the relatively small Preston Brook watershed, we need to understand what components actually make up a watershed. Healthy watersheds include the following (to some variable scale): “intact and functioning headwater streams, floodplains, riparian corridors, biotic refugia, instream habitat, and biotic communities; natural vegetation in the landscape; and hydrology, sediment transport, fluvial geomorphology, and disturbance regimes expected for its location” (US EPA). It is certainly much easier to dive into these components in a larger watershed like the Mississippi, but it might be much more impactful to understand a local, small watershed. For now, let us get into the nitty gritty of one of the healthy watershed components for the Preston Brook Watershed: biotic communities. Biotic communities are the biotic factors that are working within the watershed. When studying the health of a watershed, it...