Table 1. Habitat Characteristics and Variability (NOTE: may not display correctly in HTML; click HERE for PDF version)

HABITAT CHARACTER

VARIABILITY

MUD ------------------------ SAND ------------- GRAVEL; SHELLS; BEDROCK

· PHYSICAL

· BIOLOGICAL

MUD ------------------------- SAND ----------------- SHELLS; GRAVEL; BEDROCK
   | --BURROWS-- | | ---------- BEDFORMS ------ |

   | --STRUCTURES (TUBES and ATTACHED EPIFAUNA) -------------------

· PHYSICAL
  mud, sand, shells

· BIOLOGICAL

----------------------------------

· PHYSICAL
  hard bottom

· BIOLOGICAL

WEAK CURRENTS --------------------------------------------- STRONG CURRENTS
--------------------------------- TIDAL; STORM; OTHER ---------------------------------

STABLE SUBSTRATE ------------------------------------ UNSTABLE SUBSTRATE
MUD ----------------- |
SAND ----------------------- | ------------------- SAND and SHELL MOVEMENT ----


ADAPTED TO STABLE ----------- and/or ------MOVING SEDIMENT--------------

STABLE SUBSTRATE -----------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAVEL MOUNDS, BEDROCK, GRAVEL PAVEMENT ---------------------------

ADAPTED TO NON-MOVING SUBSTRATE

PRODUCTIVITY

WATER DEPTH

LOW --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HIGH

DEEP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHALLOW

· by FAUNA

· by FISHERS

SPAWNING, JUVENILE SURVIVAL, ADULT POPULATION
ROUNDFISH, FLATFISH, BIVALVES (EPIFAUNAL, INFAUNAL)

TARGET SPECIES and/or HABITATS
using MOBILE GEAR, STATIONARY GEAR

· PHYSICAL

· BIOLOGICAL

TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES, TEXTURE, ROUGHNESS and SURFACE AREA, SUBSTRATE DYNAMICS

ROUGHNESS and SURFACE AREA (TUBES and ATTACHED EPIFAUNA), BIODIVERSITY