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, Hawai�i, 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.