Development of Invertebrate Community Indexes of Stream Quality for the Islands of Maui and Oahu, Hawai’i

In 2009-10 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected physical habitat information and benthic macroinvertebrates at 40 wadeable sites on 25 perennial streams on the Island of Maui, Hawaii, to evaluate the relations between the macroin-vertebrate assemblages and environmental characteristics and to develop a multimetric invertebrate community index (ICI) that could be used as an indicator of stream quality. The macroinver-tebrate community data were used to identify metrics that could best differentiate among sites according to disturbance gradients such as embeddedness, percent fines (silt and sand areal cover-age), or percent agricultural land in the contributing basin area. Environmental assessments were conducted using land-use/land-cover data and reach-level physical habitat data.