Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

A geographic information system (GIS), specifically Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI®), Inc., ArcView® 3.1, was used in this project for data management and habitat mapping. All survey data were brought into ArcView as attributes of station points stored in DBF files. The attributes of each station record included all features observed in sediment profile images. For example, surface pebbles were listed as characteristic of a station even if only one image from that station had surface pebbles. Stations were then mapped to discriminate spatial patterns in habitat distributions and evaluate community and sediment features within habitats.

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