Evaluation and Proposed Refinement of the Sampling Design for the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program's Fish Component
Abstract : Environmental monitoring programs are frequently designed to track changes in key physical, chemical, and biological features of an ecosystem. As such, these programs provide critical information for detecting changes in system state, investigating causal mechanisms of the observed changes, and making resource management decisions. Because monitoring programs require significant investments of time, money, and human resources to implement and maintain, periodic evaluations of monitoring programs are necessary to determine if the sampling design adequately addresses program goals and objectives. Periodic evaluations also permit assessment of a program's ability to provide adequate and useful information for changing management and science needs. We evaluated the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program's (LTRMP) fish sampling design by analyzing data from stratified random samples collected from 1993 to 1999 in six Trend Analysis Areas (TAAs). Specifically, we investigated whether the sampling design could provide similar information with fewer sampling gears. Our goals were to identify and quantify information provided by each gear used to monitor fish in the LTRMP, develop alternative sampling design scenarios based on our analyses and expert opinion, and engage program partners in a discussion on the relative value of each gear within the present sampling design. Community characterization (presence or absence), community structure (relative abundance within the full community), and detection of annual changes in single-species catch-per-unit-effort (Lubinski et al. 2001) are the primary information provided by the fish component. Our analyses considered differences in these measures among TAAs, gear types, sampling strata, seasonal sampling period, and fish size. Results were made available to program partners through a Web site for review and comment. Based on these analyses, program partners developed a suite of potential options for component refinement.
Fish Sampling Data From Navigation Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River, 1991-1997
Abstract : Personnel of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program for the Upper Mississippi River System have collected fish information in Navigation Pool 8 since 1989. In this report, I summarize data collected during the period 1991-97, in which gear deployment methods and sampling periods remained stable but fixed-site sampling changed to predominantly stratified random sampling in 1993. Sampling collections totaled 3,596 and yielded 324,948 fish of 91 species. Sampling effort increased over time, mainly when the change to random sampling occurred. Annual catches and species totals increased when random sampling was implemented; catches increased even with stable sampling effort in recent years. Of 12 gear types used, day and night electrofishing, seining, and mini-tyke netting were used the most often, produced the greatest catch totals, and also yielded the highest species totals each year. Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), spotfin shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera), and emerald shiner (Notropis atherinoides) were the most abundant species and also occurred in the greatest percentage of collections, indicating widespread abundance. Sixteen species yielded more than 5,000 individuals each. Family Cyprinidae was represented by 21 species and 141,497 fish, Centrarchidae by 9 species and 71,375 fish, and Catostomidac by 14 species and 26,776 fish. Twenty-one of 91 total species were rarely caught. Skipjack herring (Alosa chrysochloris), previously described as extirpated, was documented in the 1993 flood year. American brook lamprey (Lampetra appendix) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) were recorded for the first time in the Upper Mississippi River in 1993. Fantail darter (Etheostoma flabellare) and banded darter (Etheostoma zonale) were documented for the first time in Pool 8 in 1997. Population trends for 15 species of perceived interest to river managers and the public indicated mainly stable a populations.
Multi-layer inpainting on Chinese artwork
Digital inpainting uses spatial or frequency information to restore partially damaged/removed photos and artworks. Most restoration algorithms take a picture as a single layer. We propose a new approach, which subdivides a Chinese painting into several layers. Each layer is inpainted separately. The layer fusion mechanism then finds the optimal inpaint among layers, which are restored layer-bylayer. We apply the algorithm on Chinese and western drawing. The result shows a high PSNR value as well as a high user satisfaction. The demonstration of our work is available at: http://www.mine.tku.edu.tw/demos/inpaint.