Benthic macroinvertebrate, fish, and physical habitat data for selected streams in Reston, VA

The United States Geological Survey Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center (USGS VA-WV-WSC) and Fairfax County assembled this data release in support of ongoing USGS VA-WV-WSC monitoring and evaluations of stream conditions overtime of two previously restored, urban-suburban streams in Reston, Virginia – Snakeden Branch and The Glade. The aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate, fish, and habitat sampling and surveying were conducted on the same eight, 100-meter stream reaches (four reaches in Snakeden Branch and four reaches in The Glade) by the USGS VA-WV-WSC. Aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate sampling and physical habitat surveys were conducted in both Spring and Fall of 2021 and a fish survey was conducted in the Summer 2021.
Data provided are of five general types:
1.	Site locations and characteristics for each of the eight sampling and surveying sites within the two monitored streams;
2.	Benthic macroinvertebrate identifications and analytical laboratory results;
3.	Fairfax County benthic macroinvertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores and individual metric results;
4.	Fish assemblages, and;
5.	Physical habitat measurements.
The metadata file “Metadata_for_Reston_Ecological_Data.xml” contains important information pertaining to the attributes of each entity of data, field and laboratory methods, and caveats associated with the Fall benthic macroinvertebrate IBI and metric scores. The "README.txt" file contains a description of each file contained in this data release.
This database contains the aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate taxonomic identification and abundance data derived from samples collected at each of the eight total reaches within Snakeden Branch and The Glade in Fall and Spring of calendar year 2021. Samples were collected by the USGS VA-WV-WSC using the Fairfax County standard operating procedures (FCSOP) and specimen identification and abundance calculations were performed by a third-party laboratory. Fairfax County benthic macroinvertebrate IBI scores and individual metrics were calculated by Fairfax County following FCSOP. It is important to note for this data release that the IBI scores presented for Fall samples have caveats associated with them and the ratings (e.g. Excellent, Good, Fair, etc.) for the Fall samples have been intentionally excluded. Please read the methods section of the “Metadata_for_Reston_Ecological_Data.xml” file carefully for further explanation.
This data release also contains the fish assemblages data, collected during the Summer of 2021, from the eight total reaches in Snakeden Branch and The Glade. Electrofishing surveys were conducted following FCSOP by the USGS VA-WV-WSC to obtain these results.
Finally, this data release contains the physical habitat data surveyed in both Fall and Spring of 2021. Multiple habitat metrics were measured throughout each of the eight total reaches on Snakeden Branch and The Glade.

Tags: benthic-macroinvertebrates, biota, canopy-cover, chesapeake-bay, fairfax-county, fish, fish-assemblages, headwater-streams, ibi, multimetric, particle-size, pebble-count, reston, snakeden-branch, stream-ecology, stream-habitat, stream-restoration, suburban-streams, the-glade, united-states, urban-streams, usgs-62262c58d34ee0c6b38b79f4, virginia, water-quality
Organization: Department of the Interior